BMC ditches Central Rly

Friday, July 18 1997

BMC ditches Central Rly

Ashish Wagh

July 17: Commuters on Central Railway suburban line will have to put up with delayed services throughout this monsoon. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has refused to clean up the culverts and choked drains along the track till the illegal structures at these spots are demolished.

The slums along the tracks lead to choking of the drains and culverts. This leads to water logging on tracks disrupting normal train schedules. The Central Railway had asked BMC for help. However, Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale has conveyed to the CR authorities that no desilting work will be taken up till the slums are removed and the residents rehabilitated.

Explaining why the structures cannot be demolished the BMC chief said the structures were built prior to January 1, 1995, the cut off date for regularisation of illegal structures. Hutments built after this date can be demolished only after rehabilitating the dwellers, under the `policy of tolerating of structures,' Gokhale remarked.

Delayed services are unavoidable feel CR officials even while a special 24-hour workforce is constantly desilting drains and other nullahs which run parallel to the tracks. The three chronic spots identified by the CR were between Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg, Mukhopadhyaya culvert between Sion and Matunga stations and the removal of a toilet block between Chembur and Govandi.

In March 25, 1997 the General Manager of the CR, N C Sinha had written to the BMC commissioner seeking help. A month later, in his reply about the first two places, the BMC chief reasoned that structures exist on both sides of the culverts and their demolition is necessary.

Gokhale's reply has perplexed the CR officials who now say that the BMC is not shouldering the responsibility in the larger interests of society.

When contacted on Wednesday Gokhale said the rehabilitation of the slum dwellers is the responsibility of the Slum Redevelopment Authority and the BMC has requested the authority to take up this issue as a top priority.