Mumbai: With monsoon approaching, members across political parties sharply criticised the BMC administration over the ongoing nullah desilting works, alleging irregularities, inflated progress figures, encroachments along drains and poor on-ground execution during the standing committee meeting on Tuesday.BJP leader Ganesh Khankar, who on Tuesday along with his other party members and led by BJP party president Ameet Satam visited the Usha Nagar nullah in Bhandup, alleged that debris from construction activities, plastic waste and encroachments continue to sit besides drains despite annual desilting drives.“At Daulat Nagar, debris is lying next to the nullah. Plastic bottles are piling up near trash booms and slums have come up along the drains. After carrying out nullah cleaning, whose responsibility is it to clear the debris? From where has all this debris come?” Khankar asked.He also demanded that the civic administration use satellite imagery to identify encroachments and fix accountability on officials from the building and factory departments for failing to act earlier when these slums were coming up. Referring to conditions in Ghatkopar where he spotted an open manhole, Khankar said the city must not forget the death of renowned gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkar during the 2017 Mumbai floods after he fell into one.Khankar was supported by health committee chairman and corporator Harish Bhandgire who said there was an acute shortage of labourers for desilting works and urged the administration to take the matter seriously.MNS’s Yashwant Killedar questioned the progress percentages shown by the civic body for works between the BKC connector and Mahim.“They are claiming 40% of the work has been completed in areas adjoining my ward, but even 10% work is not visible on the ground. These figures are completely misleading,” he alleged.Dr Saeeda Khan, an NCP corporator, alleged that silt removed from drains was being mixed with debris before transportation. “I stay near the Mithi river and hardly any work has been carried out in Kurla. The river stretch there continues to be neglected. Outfalls also need cleaning. In the name of nullah cleaning, taxpayers money is going down the drain,” she said.Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Shradha Jadhav questioned how the administration arrived at completion percentages and suggested corporators conduct surprise inspections of nullahs across the city.Congress leader and corporator Ashraf Azmi alleged that contractors were being favoured for commissions and questioned the penalties imposed on agencies for delays and poor work. “Many companies are brought in only to earn commissions,” he alleged.Meanwhile, standing committee chairman Prabhakar Shinde said that since many slums had come up on collector land along nullahs, he would write to the district collector seeking action. He also said CCTV surveillance of nullah works would be explored to improve monitoring and accountability.
