BMC failed to clean rivers, nullahs in Mumbai ahead of monsoon: AAP

AAP's Mumbai unit president Preeti Sharma Menon said the party's volunteers found that the civic body has done a shoddy work

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has failed to clean rivers and nullahs in the city, when the southwest monsoon is just a few weeks away.

Speaking to reporters, the AAP's Mumbai unit president Preeti Sharma Menon said the party's volunteers had visited several rivers, nullahs and storm water drains and found that the civic body has done a shoddy work.

“The party's city unit visited all flood-prone areas and inspected rivers, nullahs and storm water drains (SWDs) that cause flooding. We were shocked to find that no pre-monsoon desilting has been done,” Sharma Menon said.

Even by the BMC's own figures major nullahs and SWDs in the city are far from desilted. If the BMC's own documents and their online tracker are to be believed only 43 per cent of the city's nullahs and SWDs and only 84 per cent of Mithi river have been desilted, she claimed.

According to the civic body, large parts of nullahs, including Poisar river, Chandravarkar nullah and 48 other nullahs are yet to be desilted, she said.

"Only 28 per cent of south Mumbai's nullahs and SWDs have been desilted, while 58 per cent of the nullahs and SWDs have been cleaned in the eastern suburbs,” the AAP leader said.

Similarly, 50 per cent of the nullahs and SWDs in the western suburbs have not been cleaned, she said, claiming that even the BMC has admitted it has only cleaned 55 per cent of the city's minor nallahs.

AAP volunteers and leaders went to various spots along Mithi river and saw that the river was still hopelessly choked at Jogeshwari, BKC, Bandra east and Kalina, posing a major threat to the western suburbs, the AAP leader alleged.