Preparing the infrastructure ahead of monsoons, Mumbai municipal commissioner IS Chahal has ordered formation of two squads in every ward for desilting and cleaning of nullahs in the city starting Thursday.   

While work of desilting of minor nullahs at the ward level and major nullahs at the central level is going on, some major and minor nullahs have bottlenecks and issues of concern at culverts etc that can potentially lead to flooding if not desilted in time.

BMC on Wednesday ordered formation of squads by the deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) of concerned wards to daily oversee ongoing desilting work and report the same to the DMC.

Chahal said that his office was receiving specific complaints for such bottlenecks in the desilting work. “It is therefore directed that the DMCs of the concerned zones will form two squads under them. These squads shall visit various desilting sites every day and report to the concerned DMCs their observations and peculiar conditions which may lead to flooding during monsoon and needs urgent attention, action or any other intervention in the desilting work observed by them during site inspection. The DMC of concerned wards will instruct concerned officers to get these works done on top priority and take stringent action if the same is not completed within the time given,” said Chahal.

DMCs shall inform their respective assistant municipal commissioner (AMCs) about their observations about desilting work carried out in their respective zones by the ward and central agency. Any specific issues noticed that need attention and intervention of the AMC/MC will be reported accordingly.
 
Chahal directed all AMCs to visit their respective zones for inspection of desilting sites and monitor the progress of works by their ward and central agency, iterating that issues requiring his intervention should be reported accordingly. He added that additional municipal commissioners have also been directed to start visiting their concerned areas to inspect nullah cleaning.

On Thursday, the municipal commissioner took a tour, starting from Bandra Kurla Complex to Vashi Naka, to check the nullah desilting work.