No takers for BMC anti-debris scheme

The BMC is also planning campaigns to spread awareness about the scheme

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s award scheme of earning Rs 10,000 by showing illegally dumped debris has not taken off successfully. There has not been even a single taker for this scheme in the first three months of its introduction.

Taking a serious note of rampant dumping of debris across the city, the BMC had decided to offer a cash reward to people giving information about those who dump construction material illegally.

The scheme was launched in July. However, in last three months, not a single person has come forward to take benefit of this scheme, defeating its main purpose to prevent indiscriminate dumping of debris across the city.

With a large number of new construction work going on, the city also produces a lot of construction debris. According to the civic data, about 9,000-10,000 metric tonnes (MT) of waste is produced in the city, of which 7,500 MT is regular waste and 2,500 MT is debris. However, instead of proper disposal of debris material at collection spots, developers have been dumping it casually along the city roads, causing a lot of inconvenience to public and civic solid waste management (SWM) department workers, said civic officials.

To prevent this, the BMC had issued a circular “declaring an award of Rs 10,000 to a citizen who will send a photograph of a truck (exposing the number plate), which is dumping debris on public road without authorisation, by e-mail to the official dedicated id of the BMC.”

“People keep complaining about illegal dumping of debris in their areas. But despite offering a dedicated email for this scheme, they have not responded to it,” said a civic official.

He also blamed the lack of public awareness on the failure of this scheme.

Prakash Patil, deputy municipal commissioner (SWM), admitted that the BMC failed to reach people on this issue. “We are planning to start a public awareness drive on the award scheme, wherein advertisements will be given in newspapers and other media. Posters and banners will also be put to inform people about this scheme.”