Satam today pronounced himself satisfied with the clean-up operation, but refused to guarantee there would be no flooding. He claimed that 85 per cent of the work was over, though just a week ago, he had been furious with BMC officials for slow progress on the job. The BMC is also happy with the railways' participation in the drive. The railways had been paid a little over Rs one crore to clean drains falling on their land. Most drains on railway land are located in the eastern suburbs. Satam said the railways had collected garbage and silt from drains in gunny bags and would dispose it by using its wagons. ``Earlier, they used to collect garbage near the drains, and it would get back into the drains once it rained,'' he explained. Municipal commissioner Girish Gokhale added that therailways had employed over 450 persons to clean the drains.

Still, most drains have a lot of floating material, especially plastic bags and bottles, which could create problems during rains. Some of the drains, which had been cleaned barely two weeks ago, are again clogged with floating material. However, the clean-up operation has received impetus after Satam started his supervisory rounds, inspecting work on major drains in the city.

Gokhale has also been visiting spots where the clean-up drive is on, along with additional and deputy municipal commissioners. The mayor's visit has proved beneficial for residents of Kurla's Jain colony, who have so far had only one dust-bin in their locality. After Satam saw that they dumped all garbage in the drains due to absence of dust-bins, he instructed officers to provide new dust-bins for the colony in a day's time. At Ghatkopar, Satam's visit led to the demolition of illegal constructions adjoining the railway station. Deputy municipal commissioner N Achrekarinformed that 27 contractors had been penalised for not completing work on time, and the BMC had recovered Rs five lakh from them.

The corporation will also penalise agencies like MTNL, BEST, Mahanagar Gas and others who have dug up roads but left them open even after completion of work. Satam said the administration was studying the feasibility of constructing concrete tunnels under the city's footpaths, with openings at certain points along the roads for cable and telephone wires, so that footpaths don't have to be dug up every time a problem arises.