Mumbaiites to be penalised for dumping trash in nullahs, near railway tracks

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now penalise citizens, with the maximum penalty up to ₹1,250, guilty of dumping trash in nullahs and public places around railway stations, tracks and slums.

The decision to penalise is a bid to ensure public places and stormwater drains don’t get clogged in the monsoon. Earlier this month, civic commissioner Praveen Pardeshi in his pre-monsoon preparedness meeting with all departments had directed officials to cut water supply if any society was found dumping trash in nullahs.

The civic body is also carrying out demolition work along Mithi River on a war footing to widen the river, nullahs, so as to avoid flooding.

Citizens will be penalised by the nuisance-detection squad, which has been appointed in each ward and has about six to seven members in each squad. There is one squad each in all 24 wards. The citizens would be penalised as per articles 115 and 116 in the Mumbai Police Act, 1951.

Ashok Khaire, deputy municipal commissioner (solid waste management), said, “The squad has powers to fine citizens as per the act and the maximum penalty will be around ₹1,250. To avoid any misconduct by the squad, we have also asked them to take photographs and videos of violators before penalising them.”

Khaire also said that earlier, the civic body had conducted multiple campaigns and awareness programmes for people living along nullahs and rivers to stop the dumping of trash in the waters. “However, there are a few miscreants who will never change and so we have taken this step,” added Khaire.

Action will be taken as per the standard operating process in the Act and the squad has been trained for the same at the zonal level. The BMC and the Mumbai Police will have a special officer on duty and a nodal officer for the squads. In view of its pre-monsoon preparedness, the BMC is also carrying out demolition in multiple places.

The civic body has demolished 57 illegal structures in two days along Chamdawadi nullah, Bandra (East) and Mukhyadhyapak nullah, in Dharavi-Matunga. In the process, there were clashes between civic officials and the locals. Local councillor Alim Umrah from Bandra said, “According to the rule, the civic body cannot carry out any demolition or stormwater drain work in these four months. They are now making people homeless, which is creating a law-and-order situation. The demolition will not help because the civic body cannot do any widening or digging work in the Mithi River during monsoon.”

First Published:
Jun 12, 2019 00:29 IST

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