Mumbai: Hawkers, billboards undermine civic body’s deep cleaning drive

Updated On: 22 December, 2023 07:05 AM IST | Mumbai | Sameer Surve

Spots where civic body launched massive initiative in presence of chief minister are far from spotless, residents ask BMC to step up its game; officials say comprehensive SOPs being developed

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The indiscriminate dumping of garbage was evident at Amrut Nagar in Ghatkopar West on Thursday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Though Mumbaikars believe that roads and footpaths are cleaner than before, they told mid-day they wished the chief minister would visit their areas at least once a week to rid them of the hawker menace. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) kicked off a deep cleaning drive in the city three weeks ago under the supervision of CM Eknath Shinde. Though the corporation selected areas that were already better off than other wards, the issue of hawkers, unauthorised billboards and tangled cables persists. mid-day visited a few spots where deep cleaning took place to see the results. Here is what we saw:

Amrut Nagar, Ghatkopar West

Several illegal hoardings welcoming the chief minister had not been removed around the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue site when mid-day visited the Amrut Nagar junction. Shinde had visited the area on Sunday. On Golibar Road, a community bin was flooded with waste while at the end of Vastad Lahuji Salve Road, another such receptacle was overflowing. Residents told mid-day that the BMC cleans the bin twice a day. They also demanded that solid waste collection be increased. Meanwhile, mid-day also visited plot number 29A/2 which was developed in 2002. The area appeared to be an open plot with a few boundaries. A few cars are parked on the ground. No security guards seemed to be around. On Commander Dattaji Salvi Road, debris was dumped everywhere. The BMC had promised to manage solid waste, clamp down on illegal debris dumping and clean gardens and grounds under its deep-cleaning initiative. Bhaskar Chavan, a Ghatkopar West activist, said the civic body had set up community bins and cleaned them twice a day. “But the population density is high in this area. So, the BMC need to increase the number of times it cleans bins. It must also take strict action against illegal hoardings,” he said.

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