BMC set to overshoot clogged drain cleaning deadline…yet again!
With the monsoon just a couple of months away, citizens may well be left with little option but to contend with overflowing gutters and flooded roads. The civic body is least bothered about citizens’ woes and is yet to begin with the work on clogged drains across the city.
An inadvertent delay in releasing a Rs 107-crore tender though, has meant that work this year, too has fallen behind schedule. The work, which was supposed to start in the first week of April, is yet to begin as it’s ‘waiting for clearance from the civic standing committee’.
Every year, the BMC tries to complete the road repair and drain-cleaning work on time by working overtime and ends up doing a haphazard job in trying to rush up the work before the deadline. Needless to say, the deadline is never met and the work left slipshod as usual.
The BMC spends more than Rs 50 crore to widen and desilt 2,000 kilometres of drains in the city every year. The total length of BMC’s storm water drain network, including major and minor nullahs, road side drains, dhapa drains and other water entrances is 3,032 km.