After the grime and sweat of the dusty Indian summer, the intermittent showers and the smell of wet, newly-drenched soil rising from the earth is enough to put wide smiles on the face of every parched Mumbaikar. But the ruined train schedules that go hand in hand with every monsoon is enough to wipe the smiles right off the very same faces.

This problem, which throws the lives of lakhs in the city off gear, can be attributed to treacherous mounds of domestic garbage, dumped indiscriminately along the tracks. At many stretches along the main and harbour lines, garbage, along with other debris and muck, lies brazenly along the tracks, and are washed out into the tracks with rainwater, choking the lines and forcing water to stagnate, crippling the city’s lifeline. Garbage — ranging from plastic covers, to wet and dry domestic refuse — is usually dumped on the tracks by slum dwellers squatting next to the tracks.u00a0