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Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
BMC to spend 154cr to fill potholes; lags in desilting
Mumbai: This monsoon, the BMC will spend nearly Rs 154 crore on pothole repairs. BMC officials said this sum is allocated for roads which are yet to be concretised and are under asphalt or paver blocks. Large-scale road concretisation works have been going on in the city for the past two years to make roads pothole-free. Civic officials have justified the allocation by pointing out the amount is significantly lower than last year's Rs 205 crore. Advocate and activist Godfrey Pimenta said while immediate pothole repairs are essential for ensuring road safety during heavy rain, the recurring nature of these fixes highlights systemic inefficiencies. "Temporary solutions should never be prioritised over durable, long-term infrastructure improvements," he said. BMC officials, though, said the allocation is necessary as several roads are still not under the defect liability period (DLP). "The contractor is required to maintain roads under DLP," said an official. Every monsoon, the BMC allocates a certain amount for filling potholes. Residents have questioned the rationale, arguing if road works improve conditions, the need for such a large pothole-filling budget should have reduced further. "As the BMC is spending thousands of crores on road concretisation, one would expect the works to be of superior quality. The BMC plan to spend another Rs 150 crore on filling potholes is completely unjustified. As citizens, we want to know how much has been recovered so far from road concretisation contractors for shoddy work and not completing works on time," said Mandeep Singh Makkar from Chandivali Citizens Forum. Dhaval Shah from the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association said the issue is pothole filling doesn't last one monsoon season. "The expenses made for pothole filling should be audited so that taxpayers' funds are used wisely, and the defect liability period should be introduced for a longer period in the contract so that any reappearance makes the contractor liable to refill it at his expense," he said. Meanwhile, even as May has ended, the BMC is yet to complete 100% of its pre-monsoon desilting work. Its own public dashboard states as of June 3 (Tuesday), only 76.96% of the desilting target was achieved, with 7.46 lakh metric tonne of silt removed of the total estimated 9.69 lakh MT. In case of Mithi river, desilting stood at 55.57%. Officials blame the delay on a probe into Mithi desilting contracts.
Hindustan Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
BMC floats ₹2,368-crore tender to clear Deonar landfill waste amid public scrutiny
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday issued a massive ₹2,368-crore tender for the remediation of legacy waste piled up to the equivalent of 12 storeys at the Deonar dumping ground, infamously referred to as Mount Garbage. Touted as one of the largest tenders in recent years for solid waste management, the initiative aims to address decades of accumulated waste at one of the city's oldest dumping grounds. The proposed project involves the bioremediation of 18.5 million tonnes of legacy waste and the disposal of excavated, processed, and segregated materials. According to the BMC, this will result in the reclamation of approximately 110 hectares (~272 acres) of land at the Deonar site. The contract is set for a three-year period, inclusive of mobilisation and the monsoon season. Work is slated to begin upon the issuance of a letter of acceptance or a service order, whichever comes first. The BMC's move assumes significance considering the Deonar dumping ground is slated to play a significant role in the redevelopment of Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums. In October 2024, the Maharashtra cabinet approved the transfer of 124 acres of the 311-acre Deonar landfill to the Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) for constructing rental homes for residents deemed ineligible for free housing within Dharavi. The decision sparked controversy due to environmental and health concerns, as the site remains an active landfill that emits toxic gases. Activists and civil society groups have raised red flags about the BMC tender's timing and financial implications, despite the environmental promise of bioremediation. The Watchdog Foundation, an NGO, has openly criticised the move, citing concerns over the use of public funds to subsidise a private redevelopment project. 'While we acknowledge that bioremediation is an environmentally friendly process, we are perplexed by the timing and financial implications of this tender,' said advocate Godfrey Pimenta of the Watchdog Foundation. 'If a significant portion of the Deonar dumping ground has already been allotted to a private entity, why is the BMC spending ₹2,368 crore of taxpayers' money on its bioremediation?' he added. The foundation has called for the immediate suspension of the tender, urging a comprehensive review of the project and an independent inquiry into the decision-making process. 'We believe that transparency and accountability are paramount, especially when significant public funds are involved,' said Pimenta. 'The citizens of Mumbai deserve clarity on how their money is being utilised, and whether such expenditures serve the public interest.' Kiran Dighavkar, deputy municipal commissioner (solid waste management), defended the BMC's move, saying there is a significant amount of legacy waste at the Mulund and Deonar dumping grounds that needs to be removed. 'Mulund alone has around 60 lakh (6 million) tonnes of waste, while Deonar holds nearly 2 crore (20 million) tonnes, piled up to the equivalent of 12 storeys and spread over approximately 110 hectares. Regardless of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, we are obligated to remove this legacy waste,' said Dighavkar. 'Work at the Mulund dumping ground has been ongoing for six years, and we expect to reclaim nearly 60 acres of land there. Now, the focus has shifted to Deonar, where biomining operations are underway. In the meantime, the DRP has progressed, and the state government has requested that the land originally allotted to us in the 1930s be returned in its current condition. It is our responsibility to clean the site and hand it back, in line with the state government's directives,' he added.
