Mumbai: City's civic body willing to spend Rs 13 crore to wash roads

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is ready to spend Rs 13 crore on washing 600 km of roads daily for four months The decision was made to reduce air pollution due to dust from roadsIf the road length increases to 1000 km the cost will reach Rs 25 croreThe BMC has been taking various measures to tackle air pollution including serving notices to contractors for not adhering to antidust norms removing furnaces and considering air filters on vehicles Washing roads is one among these measuresRoad washing in progress at a flyover in SewriThere are 2050 km of roads in the city Currently the BMC washes around 250 km to 300 km of roads every day The BMC has targeted to spray water on around 650 km of roads every day so that every road will be washed every three days The next target is to spray water on 1000 km of roads daily to ensure every road is washed every two days But the cost of doing this is a major considerationWardlevel washingRoads are being washed on ward levels The Solid Waste Management SWM department helped wards with a few tankers Ward officers have been arranging tankers from private suppliers alsoAccording to a BMC proposal the Solid Waste Management department is to provide funds to wards for roadwashingCurrently around 70 to 90 tankers are deployed to spray water on 300 km of roads in the city Considering this more than 150 tankers may be needed for 600 km of roads but the BMC has estimated a requirement of only 120 tankers at the cost of R13 crore for four months As such the actual cost of washing 600 km of roads may be even higher Further 150 tankers will be taken on rent if the BMC sets a target of washing 1000 km of roads dailyThe wards will get funds from the SWM department to wash roads A proposal detailing the cost of the work has been sent to BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal for approval ldquoConsidering the roadsrsquo width length and requirement of tankers the approximate cost is R13 crore for cleaning 600 km of roads for four monthsrdquo said a BMC official ldquoIf the road length increases to 1000 km per day the cost will increase to R25 crore The commissioner is yet to approve the proposalrdquo the official addedThe quantity of water required to wash the roads is also a concern The quantity of water varies for each ward from 1500 litres to 2500 litres per km On Sunday 9000 litres of water was used to wash 3 km of road in A ward which comprises Fort and Colaba In S ward Bhandup 70000 litres of water was used for washing 28 km of roads On Monday in E ward which comprises Byculla 15000 litres of water was used to wash 45 km of roads and in K West Andheri West Vile Parle West one lakh litres of water was used to wash 26 km of roadsldquoThe wards in south Mumbai are wide with eight to 10 feet wide footpaths on both sides So they require more water than the small roads in the suburbs The water is being drawn from borewells and not from sources of potable water Still tankersrsquo capacities are large The wards are being told to use less waterrdquo said a senior official from the BMC90Tankers washing around 300 km of road120Tankers needed to wash approx 650 km of roads150Tankers needed to wash approx 1000 km of roads