Littered sea link after marathon angers MSRDC, MEPL officials

Thousands of empty plastic water bottles and boxes were seen on the sea link after the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday. The litter was left unattended till late Monday afternoon. Angry officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) as well as the toll operator were furious and may not give permission to the organisers for the event next year.

Waste was lying on the road side till MSRDC officials and officials of the Mumbai Entry Point Ltd (MEPL) noticed it in the morning. “We have issued notices to the concerned officials to get the sea  link cleared immediately. In fact we asked the organisers, Procam, to help clean the mess,” said a top MSRDC official.

MEPL managing director Jayant Mhaiskar, said, “We were told by MSRDC that the responsibility to clean it up was primarily with the organisers and not with our company. Subsequently, we along with the Procam staff cleared the garbage by 4 pm on Monday.”

“They have not shown any audit of their charity and have not paid the corporation last year. They are demanding to waive off the Rs20 lakh charges which they owe to the toll operator,” said a senior MSRDC official requesting anonymity.

When contacted, the Procam spokesperson, said, “We had the support of an NGO to cleans up. However, somehow they could not do it on Sunday,” said the spokesperson. However, he was unaware about the payment waiver issue.