Now you will know exactly who is responsible for the floods

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List of names of each official assigned to each flood point to be broadcast before the monsoon; engineers flag huge vacancies and load them

Flood-prone areas are mostly found in the central parts of the city. File Photo/Sameer Markande

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Following instructions from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started the process of holding individual officials accountable in the event of flooding in the city. A list of officials will be circulated to citizens* before the monsoon.

Each year, the BMC publishes a list of phone numbers for its Neighborhood Engineers* for citizens to register complaints about potholes. This year, the BMC will also compile a list of officials responsible for each flood point. The association of engineers* of the BMC, however, pointed to the huge number of vacant positions and the burden that weighs on them.

There are about 87 flood-prone points in the city, mostly in the central parts. CM Shinde instructed the BMC to assign responsibility for the flood spots to officials, during his visit to inspect nullah cleanup works in the city last week. “If a place remains flooded, the relevant official will be rewarded, and if it is flooded, he will face action,” Shinde said on Saturday.

Many issues to blame*

“There are several issues that lead to flooding. Some may not be in the hands of particular officials like heavy to heavy rains, pump stations not working, nullahs smothered in another place, etc. But officials can examine the arrangement of water pumps, their working condition, adequate stock of diesel fuel, etc.” said a BMC official.

Currently, flood points are addressed at two levels – neighborhood and stormwater drainage (SWD) service. While the development of water pumps is done at the neighborhood level, the cleaning of nullahs and the operation of water pumping stations are the responsibility of the SWD department. “We will assign an officer for each flood point and the list will be circulated before the monsoon. The officials will come from the wards as well as from the SWD. There are about 87 flood points in the city,” said P Velarasu, commissioner additional.

Contractor fined

Three engineers, two sub-engineers and an assistant engineer in West Ward received show cause notices after a drain was found dirty during the CM* visit. The BMC also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the contractor. “There are already 380 vacancies in engineering positions, including 250 vacancies in civil and junior engineering cadres. In addition, about 130 positions in the technical and electrical department are vacant. Due to these vacancies, the load the workload of junior and secondary engineers has increased. The BMC administration must appoint engineers and then start giving additional responsibilities to civil servants,” said Sainath Rajadhyaksha of the Union of Municipal Engineers.* He added that the union had raised the matter on September 13, 2022 with CM Shinde, but so far there had been no movement from BMC even after CM’s instructions.

87Number of flood points in the city

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