The project is expected to be completed in the next six months at a total cost of Rs 85 lakh.
After an initiative to cover around 110 metre of nullahs in Kandivali in 2018, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to expand its project of covering drains this year. The city authority will now take up the covering of around 390 metre of nullahs in Dahisar and Borivali. The project is expected to be completed in the next six months at a total cost of Rs 85 lakh.
The pilot project of covering nullahs was first announced in the budget of 2017-18. The idea behind covering was to prevent people from tossing garbage into these drains. In 2018, the civic body had handed over a contract to cover 110 metre of nullahs in the Pancholia and Asha Nagar areas of Kandivali to a private firm. The project saw the use of semi-circular polycarbonate sheets.
The covers have openings at a distance of every 10 metre so that there is no hindrance to cleaning. After being successful in 2018, the civic body is now ready to hand over the contract for Dahisar and Borivali nullahs. The V H Desai nullah near Vasant Villa society, Yadav Nagar nullah at Parag Nagar, Sambhaji Nagar nullah at Shiv Tekadi, Cosmos nullah near Cosmos school, and the nullah in the BMC garden near Borge road will receive a semi-circular cover of polycarbonate sheets, sources in the municipal corporation said.
While the civic body isn't thinking beyond preventing clogging of nullahs, private bodies have demanded that the BMC clubs this initiative with its other project of beautifying nullahs. "There is a huge demand to cover nullahs due to the stink of garbage and the filthy sight," an officer from the Storm Water Drainage department said. The civic body spends nearly Rs 100 crore every year to clean major and minor nullahs.
In total, major nullahs stretch over 260 km and minor nullahs stretch over 465 km across the city. However, covers cannot be placed over every nullah; drains that require a machine to pull out garbage from, drains with dilapidated sidewalls and drains that are too wide near the creek can't get covers.
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