As of May 23, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reports that approximately 99% of the desilting work across Mumbai's major and minor nallahs, including the Mithi River, is completed. The BMC aims to wrap up the remaining tasks before the June 5 deadline.
Based on BMC data, in the western suburbs, 95.60% of desilting is finished, with 224,675.07 metric tonnes of silt removed. Mumbai city has completed 97.01% of desilting, removing 30,016 metric tonnes of silt. In the eastern suburbs, 93.63% of the target is achieved, with 115,418.22 metric tonnes of silt removed.
Desilting of the Mithi River is 94.79 percent complete, while the desilting of minor and highway drains is 100 percent complete. According to the civic body, around 99.9 percent of the overall desilting work under their jurisdiction has been completed. Of the total 1,021,557.41 metric tonnes of silt, approximately 1,020,590.25 metric tonnes have been removed.
However, former leader of the opposition at BMC, Ravi Raja, alleged that the civic body’s data on desilting is misleading. “The civic body has hardly completed 45 percent of desilting work, and this will be exposed with the first rain,” said Raja. He added that the monsoon is expected to arrive earlier this year, and poor desilting work will lead to flooding in Mumbai.
Earlier, Civic Chief Bhushan Gagrani set a June 5 target for the completion of nullah cleaning in the city. He held a review meeting on May 21, directing DMCs and AMCs to visit desilting sites twice to check the quality of work. On May 23, Gagrani made a surprise visit to inspect desilting work at the Vakola River and Mithi River.
Gagrani inspected the desilting works in the Vakola River from the bridge over the Vakola River at Bandra-Kurla Complex. The work was carried out using the Poklen Long Broom plant located on the pontoon plant. Officials informed that floating waste and sediment from the upstream side of Bharat Nagar Colony are being continuously removed.
Raja commented that the Mithi River extends beyond the Bandra-Kurla Complex. “The civic body is spending Rs 249 crores on desilting, yet we do not see any work on the ground,” said Raja. He added that while the civic body claims silt is being dumped in Vasai, the Vasai dumping yard has more debris than silt.
According to BMC, they plan to remove 13.1 crore metric tonnes (MT) of silt over the next year. Out of this, around 10.2 crore MT will be removed by May 2024, before the monsoon, while 1.57 lakh MT will be removed during the monsoon. The remaining 1.32 lakh MT of silt will be removed between October 2024 and March 2025. In March, the civic body appointed 31 agencies for this work.