Urban News

Hindustan Times 05.11.2009

Your dog’s okay on Marine Drive — if you clean up

You can continue to walk your pooch on the Marine Drive promenade.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided not to ban pets on the four-km stretch. However, this comes with a rider: It will review the area after a specific number of days to check if pet owners are keeping it clean.

“Citizens will be submitting a final proposal to us in the next two days about what they are going to do to keep the promenade clean,” said assistant municipal commissioner S.M. Dhamne.

The proposal, put together by residents who take their dogs for walks along the promenade, includes suggestions such as employing cleaning staff and requesting the civic body for special litter bins.

At the moment, the cleanliness and sanitation bylaws do not allow animal poop to be thrown into public dustbins. Under these regulations, pet owners can be fined Rs 500 for not cleaning up after their pets.

The civic body had issued a public notice in August warning pet owners that the promenade would be closed to dogs if the owners did not keep it clean.

“The BMC has assured us that they will not ban dogs for now. We are going to give them a plan to keep the promenade clean. They will then decide on following procedures,” said Rajiv Deora, a resident of Kemps Corner who takes his dog to Marine Drive regularly.

“The prime objective is to keep the area clean. If the citizens can deliver what they promise, there is no need to ban pets,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner R.A. Rajeev.

Indian Express 5.11.2009

BMC officials pledge to be clean, transparent

A day after the Anti-Corruption Bureau ranked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as the most corrupt public body in the city, acting municipal commissioner and additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev conducted the ‘oath taking’ ceremony of top BMC officials asking them to be ‘clean, transparent and development oriented’.

“It is unfortunate that since two years, the BMC is emerging as the most corrupt body, according to the ACB’s Vigilance Awareness Week drive,” Rajeev said. The oath taking ceremony is a yearly ritual in all government offices.

However, Rajeev added that ACB’s conclusion was not definite. “The ranking is based on the number of officials from a public body caught taking bribes. But that also depends on the number of raids carried out by the ACB in that particular agency’s offices,” Rajeev added.

Seventeen BMC officials were caught taking bribe. The Mumbai Police ranked second with 15 police personnel found guilty.

Rajeev said that the civic body is undertaking many initiatives to get rid of its corrupt image. “Computerization of building proposals department, that is believed to be the most corrupt, and rationalization of the procedure of transfer of engineers are some of the efforts being undertaken to induce transparency,” Rajeev said.