Cong lashes out at BMC administration for slow nullah works

City Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam today lashed out at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration for slow pace of nullah desilting work.
Nirupam claimed that only 20 to 25 per cent of the nullahs have been desilted so far and considering that the monsoon is approaching closer, the city is "sitting on a verge of disaster and only God can save it."
Meanwhile, civic administration in a statement issued here said it has completed 86.87 per cent of desilting work.
Nirupam alleged, "The administration has adopted a totally faulty and unscientific system of desilting the nullah which will affect the lives of lakhs of citizens during the rains.

"Civic body is claiming that it has desilted more than 80 per cent of nullahs, our observation is that only 20 to 25 per cent have been cleaned."
He said, "There is no system to monitor transportation of silt. Where is it dumped? Whether permission of collector or environment department has been obtained? Whether vehicle tracking device is in place? Administration does not have any clue about this.

"It seems that Rs 150 crore budget allocation for the desilting work seems to have gone in the drain (nullah) only."
Nirupam, a former Lok Sabha MP from north Mumbai said his party corporators will raise this issue in the House.

He demanded a high level probe against officials and contractors involved in desilting process.
The Congress leader also raised concerns over two major roads in the city which have been dug-up for metro work, saying, it would cause inconvenience to commuters during monsoon.