BMC to Spend Rs 10.25 Crore on Encroachment Clearance Vehicles

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is appointing new contractors to deploy vehicles across Mumbai and its suburbs for one year at an estimated cost of Rs 10.25 crore to transport material seized during anti-encroachment drives.

The measure comes under the civic body's 'Pedestrian First' campaign, which was launched last month to reclaim footpaths connecting railway and Metro stations, schools, colleges, hospitals, civic and government offices, religious sites, and other high-footfall areas. The enforcement drive targets unauthorised structures, hawker obstructions, stored materials, signboards, banners, and other obstacles restricting pedestrian movement.

Earlier vehicle contracts had expired on July 9 for the city area and on July 24 for the western suburbs. To prevent disruptions in enforcement operations, the civic body will hire 27 vehicles for the city and 49 vehicles for the western suburbs for a period of one year.

The new agreements account for 9,555 trips in the city division at Rs 3,050 per trip, and 17,855 trips in the western suburbs at Rs 3,042 per trip. Under these contracts, M/s Infra Transproject has been selected to supply 27 vehicles for the city area at a cost of Rs 3.12 crore. M/s S.D. Shirole Transport will provide 49 vehicles for the western suburbs for Rs 5.65 crore.

For the eastern suburbs, the BMC has proposed a separate contract valued at Rs 1.48 crore to M/s Mak Envirotech and Solutions for similar transport services.

Under the first phase of the Pedestrian First campaign, the civic administration plans to clear encroachments across 200 footpaths, with clearance operations currently in progress at 134 locations. Enforcement drives have so far been executed at 1,459 locations across all 26 administrative wards in Mumbai.