BMC faces criticism after services between Kurla and Sion stations get jammed due to incessant rainfall

Whenever there is an instance of heavy rainfall in Mumbai, rail and road traffic happens to be the worst hit due to waterlogging and stagnant rainwater which creates obstacles for the vehicles.

Therefore, ahead of the monsoons, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) tries to clean the nullahs under the tracks. However, every year, despite the cleaning, the tracks get flooded and the Mumbai local train services get disrupted.

Moreover, the BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had earlier directed the assistant commissioners and senior officers across all the 24 wards in Mumbai, to complete the work within the stipulated time along with cleaning of rivers and nullahs. Similarly, a directive was given for roads and footpaths as well, where the construction, repair of roads and sidewalk should be completed at the earliest. However, the civic body has been facing criticism after the incessant rainfall on Wednesday, June 9, which flooded the Kurla and Sion stations.

However, in recent developments, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Bandra member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Ashish Shelar alleged corruption by the Shiv Sena-ruled Mumbai civic body, in the desilting and cleaning of nullahs in Mumbai. Moreover, he added that the corruption in the desilting of nullahs, stormwater, open drains and culverts has led to waterlogging in the city leading to hardship to the common citizens of Mumbai.

On the other hand, every year, the BMC cleans small and big nullahs in the city before the monsoon season to ensure the sludge is removed and disposed of. This activity is conducted to prevent water retention in the low lying areas, which is a menace faced by the city every year during the torrential rains. The nullah cleaning activity, each year, is done in three stages.

In the first phase, 80 per cent of the cleaning is done between March 1 and May 31, whereas in the second phase, 10 per cent is planned between June 1 and September 30. The third phase includes 10 per cent of cleaning which is planned between October 1 and February 28. This year, the cleaning work in the eastern suburbs could not start on March 1 and as per sources, the cleaning work is starting late due to a delay in the tender process.

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