Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner of the L ward, which oversees Sangharsh Nagar, told mid-day on Thursday, “Despite the BMC’s notices, two of the five firms failed to meet the terms of their contracts. This included failing to deploy adequate personnel on the ground, neglecting daily cleaning work, garbage collection, and nullah cleaning
Unattended garbage across Sangharsh Nagar. PICS/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has blacklisted two of the five Self-Help Group (SHG) firms enlisted under the Swachh Mumbai Prabodhan Abhiyan (SMPA) for providing cleaning and sanitation services at Sangharsh Nagar in Chandivli. On June 19, BMC issued show-cause notices to all five firms for failing to carry out their duties and gave them seven days to respond and improve their performance.
Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner of the L ward, which oversees Sangharsh Nagar, told mid-day on Thursday, “Despite the BMC’s notices, two of the five firms failed to meet the terms of their contracts. This included failing to deploy adequate personnel on the ground, neglecting daily cleaning work, garbage collection, and nullah cleaning. As a result, the two firms have been blacklisted.” The civic body has now replaced the blacklisted contractors with two SHG firms that were on a waiting list created during the tendering process.
The issue first came to light on June 19, when mid-day reached out to the BMC for a comment after observing unattended garbage across Sangharsh Nagar — a locality that houses 12,000 families in 240 buildings. The area is home to residents who were rehabilitated from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) nearly 15 years ago and has been informally categorised by the BMC as a “vertical slum”.
Due to its special nature, services such as solid waste management are provided through the SMPA scheme, originally restructured from the Slum Adoption Scheme in 2013. Residents of Sangharsh Nagar had raised concerns about poor sanitation, pointing out that no cleaning crews were visible on the ground, resulting in piles of garbage accumulating over days.
Later on June 19, the L ward issued show-cause notices to the five SHG contractors, asking for explanations and instructing them to submit daily progress reports for the following seven days. By June 20, sanitation workers under the SMPA were seen cleaning the area, and the BMC also initiated a debris and large solid waste cleanup the same day.
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