Mumbai: A total of 458 dustbins procured by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Coroporation to be placed in the H-East ward have went missing as per the allegations laid by the residents. According to the residents of Kalina, the dustbins which were procured at a cost of Rs. 10.97 lakhs in February were never distributed in the ward and the BMC claims to be clueless about its whereabouts.
Voice of Kalina, an Advance Locality Management (ALM) working on various civic issues as well as highlighting corruption in Kalina, has alleged that 458 wheeled dustbins of 240 liters procured by the BMC to be supplied to the Kalina village premises in Beat-90 are nowhere have not been distributed at the ground level.
The work order dated February 14, accessed by VOK confirms procurement of 458 dustbins from a vendor named Deora And Brothers located in Bhayandar (E). The work order states that the dustbins have to be supplied to Kalina Village in the H-East ward in the time period of 30 days and Rs. 10.97 lakhs were sanctioned for it. However, as the new dustbins were not seen in the locality, the residents started questioning the authority about the missing dustbins.
Clarence Pinto, a member of the ALM said, “We wrote a mail to the ward officer asking about where the dustbins have been distributed. The ward officer has forwarded the mail to the assistant engineer of the solid waste management department Sachin Mudganti who has still not replied on the issues. We have been even writing to the BMC on social media but have not received any reply yet.”
However, the residents have also claimed that when the ward officer Swapnaja Kshirsagar was verbally asked about the dustbins, she claimed that she does not know about its whereabouts and asked the residents to find the dustbins.
Elvina Gonsalves, ward president of the Aam Aadmi Party and a member of VOK, said, “I am concerned with the waste that is spilled on the streets and if the corporation has procured new dustbins, they should be made to use. However, the ward officer said that she does not know about where the dustbins are and has the audacity to ask us to find the dustbins on our own. The ward officer has never communicated with the citizens to know about our problems or to solve it.”
The Free Press Journal contacted Kshirsagar but she did not reply to any of the calls and messages.
