MUMBAI, February 2: It's five o' clock in the morning and the loudspeakers atop 21 mosques in and around Dharavi blare out strains of the day's first Aazan. After the five-minute ritual, the Maulvi ends the prayer with a solemn message to the residents of Asia's largest slum settlement keep Dharavi clean. Cleanliness is Godliness.Every day, for the last two months, the message is being repeated five times at the mosques and also after aartis at the temples. A brainchild of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officer on special duty, Subhash Dalvi, the messages have worked wonders.
While BMC officials have worked hard in cleaning up Dharavi and surrounding areas like the Matunga Labour Camp despite infrastructural constraints, it's the involvement of the residents in the "Clean Dharavi" campaign which has made the drive a success. And for once, the BMC is not willing to rest on its laurels. Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale says much more needs to be done to make the entire citygarbage free.
Changing Dharavi has not been easy. In fact, it was one the few slums where the failure of BMC Garbage-Free Day on August 15 last year was the most visible. Spurred by the failure, the BMC decided to focus only on Dharavi for sometime. They also decided to involve its residents. "Our experience at other slums in Mumbai taught us that keeping these localities clean was impossible without the residents' help. We can only clean up a locality, but maintaining that level of cleanliness is up to the residents," says Dalvi.
From October 18, when the BMC declared its `Clean Dharavi' campaign, the area was virtually besieged by 352 sweepers and garbage pick-up lorries. Besides removing tonnes of garbage accumulated over the years, the BMC also decided to tackle other problems like illegal parking of vehicles.
Simultaneously began the door-to-door campaigns, late-evening health education sessions and mahila mandal meetings. Not to lose an opportunity, the BMC and police on the Makar Sankrantiday on February 14, went around distributing til gul. On Idd, they visited every Muslim household and wishing them. Where persuasion did not work, force was used.
In the first round, the officials sought the help of Dharavi police, who were only too willing to pitch in - a massive heap of garbage opposite the police station emanated a terrible stench. The presence of policemen lent authority to the whole exercise. When a litterbug was fined in the presence of cops, he felt guilty - almost like a criminal. Tyres of the trucks parked on the 90 feet and 60 feets roads were deflated. Once driven away, they never returned.
But self-help, to a very large extent, remained the focal point of the drive. Policemen along with the conservancy staff and the local residents started shram dan to desilt open drains in each block comprising of over 100 houses. ``The residents were moved when they saw policemen and senior corporation officials with brooms in their hands sweeping the gullies and clearing thedrains,'' a police inspector said. They soon joined in. The BMC has already collected over Rs 35,000 in fines and removed 1,200 truck loads of garbage. Toilet blocks and water tanks have been repaired and new mobile toilets have been introduced.
Now, the garbage is collected by tempos which make 50-60 trips every day. ``For the first time in my life, I have seen BMC officials approaching us and seeking solutions to our problems. I will now spend rest of my life in clean environs,'' said Vinayak Dive, a 65-year-old resident of the Matunga Labour Camp.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
