Garbage piles up at Chimbai

As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has yet to appoint a new agency to remove the solid waste from the beaches after an earlier contract expired in March, garbage piles are growing at Chimbai and Danda beaches in Bandra in the western suburbs of Mumbai. According to the municipal organisation, the process of selecting the new contractor is now underway and will be completed soon. Chimbai and Danda beaches, in contrast to Juhu or Versova beaches, which experience a massive flood of tourists, are essentially fishing settlements that are mostly populated by fishermen who also keep their boats parked in the shallow waters. Every year, the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department of the BMC's H/West (HW) ward hires a contractor to collect trash from the neighbourhood. However, no new appointments have been made this year since the contract's term expired in March. According to Asif Zakaria, a former corporator from Bandra (West), Dumpers and JCBs used to visit frequently under the BMC's annual cleaning contract to pick up and clear the floating material on the sea as well as waste from locals' homes. Additionally, both beaches were routinely swept and cleaned by hired labourers. This year, due to the BMC's failure to renew its contract, the cleaning work was stopped in March, and the local fisherfolk, who are Mumbai's original residents, are now complaining more frequently. The sea spews out a lot of trash, and as Chimbai is the first beach after the Mahim outfall, locals have been complaining that the Mahim Influent Pumping Station (IPS) dumps a lot of trash along the bay.