Maharashtra assembly elections 2024: Pollution control plan hit as poll keeps 50 per cent of BMC staff busy

Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani briefs media about preparedness for the Maharashtra Assembly election. Pic/Atul Kamble

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) pollution control programme will be impacted by the upcoming Assembly poll as more than half of the civic body's employees are expected to be preoccupied with election-related work.

The BMC has already postponed its water-sprinkling programme, which was to start on October 1, by a month and though ward-level squads will remain active, the manpower crunch will affect operations.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Bhushan Gagrani, municipal commissioner and district election officer for Mumbai and suburbs said that 42,000 of the corporation's 90,000 employees would be appointed for election duty and out of them, around 12,000 would be deployed in the first phase.

The election process has already started, and October 29 is the last date for filing nomination forms. Voting will take place on November 20 and the results will be declared three days later.

While hospital services, water supply and basic solid waste management will be unaffected, other programmes will be impacted for a month.

Dust mitigation plan

The BMC plan to sprinkle water with the help of 106 6,000-litre water tankers, each equipped with high-pressure jet sprays. "But the programme will start on November 1. The agencies are already selected and ward offices can deploy the vehicles as per their schedules. But as these offices are running short of manpower, everything apart from essential works will get delayed," said a BMC official.

In a meeting held last week, Gagrani instructed the officials concerned to take immediate action if pollution levels are above the limit. The enforcement teams at ward level, including two engineers, a police officer and a marshal should visit the premises in question. If it is found that the guidelines are not being followed at the workplace, strict action like issuing stop-work notices and/or sealing the workplace is to be taken immediately.

A ward officer from the eastern suburbs said, "We have already activated a squad and they have started visiting construction sites and taking appropriate action against defaults. But as of now 80 per cent of the ward staff is on election duty, so it is difficult to manage." A ward officer from the western suburbs echoed his sentiments. "As per instructions, we are getting details of action by the teams selected at Ward level and we will try to continue so. But election duties are also important and we have to focus on priorities," said the ward officer.

90,000
Total no. of BMC employees