Civic body’s new helpline and rainfall are credited for drastic drop in garbage complaints, paving the way for cleaner streets
A pile of garbage in Oshiwara. File pic
Garbage complaints have halved ever since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched a helpline in June. In the first 30 days of the launch, the corporation received around 3,500 complaints, but in July, that number dropped significantly to 1,458.
Despite the prevalence of photos of piles of garbage on social media, the BMC’s official figures indicate a decline in complaints for July. During the initial 30 days till July 5, the civic body received a total of 3,570 complaints, averaging 128 complaints daily, with 93 related to garbage and the rest concerning debris. However, the number of complaints decreased dramatically afterwards.
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From July 6 to August 1, the BMC received only 1,458 complaints, averaging just 54 complaints daily. Out of these, 1,160 complaints (an average of 43 daily) were about garbage piling, and 298 (an average of 11 daily) were related to debris. The BMC claimed that only one complaint remained pending.
On Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s instructions, the civic body had launched a new WhatsApp helpline to register garbage-related complaints and their locations.
The highest number of garbage complaints (412) came from L ward, which includes Kurla and Chembur, followed by P North (Malad) with 335 complaints, and K West (Andheri West, Jogeshwari West) with 273 complaints. S ward (Bhandup) received 266 complaints about garbage, and regarding debris, BMC received 166 complaints from the K West ward.
An official from solid waste management stated, “The drop in the complaints might be attributed to heavy rainfall in the latter part of the month or a reduction in the novelty of the helpline. We had instructed wards to identify five locations with regular complaints and address the
issues accordingly.”
Based on an RTI query by Praja Foundation, 12,351 complaints were received in 2022 regarding solid waste management issues, mainly garbage not being collected through the BMC’s central complaint registration system, resulting in an average of 33 cases daily last year.
54
No. of daily complaints
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