Volunteers wondered why they could not get one contractor to spare 4-5 hours to clear an important river
A Borivli resident who led a five-Sunday clean-up drive along the mouth of Poisar river at Kandivli in April has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing his experiences over why he has doubts about whether the 'Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan' campaign will succeed in Mumbai, citing lack of support from the BMC for the drive as his reason.
Tejas Shah, a volunteer with River March — a citizen-led movement seeking protection and revival of four rivers of Mumbai — has narrated how lack of support from BMC officials during a clean-up drive planned at Krantinagar, to remove as much as garbage possible before the monsoon, has left the volunteers red faced.
The drive kicked off on April 2 after their team members had a detailed discussion with BMC seeking their support for the drive. River March volunteers were encouraged on seeing that on the first Sunday of the drive, BMC officials had been present along with one JCB and five trucks. Together they had managed to clear 80,000 kg of garbage.
"However, the next Sunday, while all the volunteer reached at 7 am eager to double the target, the JCB came only at 11 am. Gradually, the situation on the following Sundays worsened as BMC machinery reduced and even the BMC officials became mere spectators," shared Shah. He added that while on the first Sunday they managed to clear 80,000 kg, they only managed to collect 67,000 kg on the remaining four Sundays.
"By the third Sunday, we understood that BMC was no longer interested. Yet, all the volunteers came together and decided not to give up. They continued the drive by collecting the garbage manually. Once we completed the entire drive, I realised that with BMC displaying this kind of attitude, the 'Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan' can never become a success. Hence, I have decided to share this with the Prime Minister who has envisioned this campaign," informed Shah.
Though the drive ended on April 30, River March members were at their wit's end trying to understand why BMC did not continue the drive that would have helped rid the mouth of the river of mounds of garbage. despite BMC undertaking desilting of rivers across Mumbai.
"Since all the plastic waste and trash is collected at the mouth of the river, it will flow with the rain water and end up in the creeks. Therefore, this area should have been a priority for the BMC too, but they along with the contractors told some of our members that they had to carry out desilting elsewhere, due to which they could not continue," shares Shah, questioning that it was again surprising that BMC could not get one contractor to spare four to five hours to clear an important stretch of river.
The letter to the prime minister raising doubts over the feasibility of Swacch Bharat, also questions the attitude of BMC towards an earnest attempt by citizens who took up something that was the responsibility of the BMC. In fact, through the letter, Shah also suggested that instead of emphasising 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan' only on citizens, government officials should be sensitised about the vision of garbage-free cities.
NO ASSISTANCE
- Volunteers wondered why they could not get one contractor to spare 4-5 hours to clear an important river
- BMC has said that the since it was the month of April, a lot of other desilting work had to be carried out
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