The BMC is on a slow track as far as nullah cleaning is concerned. Last year, the BMC started cleaning drains by March 6. This year, the cleaning started at a slower pace and even the dashboard for the public to monitor the progress of nullah cleaning work, hasn’t been installed yet. The BMC has set a target to remove 75 per cent of the targetted quantity by May 15.
The yearly work takes more than two-and-half months to be completed every year. Last year, the BMC started the cleaning process in the first week of March. “This year, we have already started giving work orders, and the work of cleaning small nullahs at the ward level has begun. The work at major nullahs will start soon,” said an officer with the Storm Water Drain department of the BMC.
There are 309 major drains and four rivers, with an approximate total length of 290 km. The city has 508 small nullahs that are 605 km long. There are also 475 km of 100-year-old underground stormwater arch drains. Apart from these, there are around 2,004 km of roadside gutters. While 75 per cent of nullah-cleaning is done before monsoon, 10 per cent happens during the monsoon and 15 per cent after monsoon.
The BMC started a dashboard in 2022 for the public to monitor the progress of the nullah cleaning work. “We are updating the dashboard and it will take another week. It will be in public domain from April first week,” said an official from the BMC. The dashboard is updated daily.
The civic body removes on average 10 lakh tonnes of silt by May 31 every year. The SWD department claimed to have removed 11.70 lakh tonnes of silt from nullahs and rivers across the city last year till June 12, 2023 which is 20 per cent more than the targeted quantity. But this year, the estimated silt quantity removed may not exceed 10 per cent of the average quantity. The estimated cost for desilting nullahs, gutters and the Mithi River would go up to Rs 300 crore, depending upon the silt quantity.
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