Joshi Lane at Ghatkopar is the trophy the civic corporation holds up to prove that the corporation and citizens can work meaningfully in one direction. ALM, or Advanced Locality Management, works on three basic tenets: cleaning, beautifying and vermiculture. The end goal is zero garbage generation ie. ensure the reuse of garbage at its source to avoid accumulation.

ALM also signifies a change in mindset for the 125-year-old Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. As the tax-paying citizenry increasingly wants value for its money, and as NGOs and citizens' forums step up their volumes and pressure on the BMC to clean up its act, ALM, with civic body and citizens at its core, may well salvage the corporation.

ALM was nowhere in the picture in 1996, when sub-engineer S S Bhagwat sat in his Ghatkoparoffice fielding bitter complaints from frustrated citizens. Bhagwat, now Officer on Special Duty for the corporation who tours Mumbai's garbage pockets with a mobile in tow, recalls when Viren Merchant, a Joshi Lane resident, walked into his office to complain as usual. ``When Merchant complained that the BMC just wasn't doing its job, I had retorted that the citizens have to keep their area clean. It was then decided that we needed a way out instead of quarrelling.'' That way out led to the Joshi Lane success story.

Under ALM, a lane, school, garden, residential society is treated as a unit. Today, there are 325 such ALM units in Mumbai as well as 170 vermiculture, informs Bhagwat. Some of the areas include Naval Dockyard, INS Hamla, Hotel Resort at Aksa, A and D roads in Churchgate, Wadala, Cheetah Camp and six lanes in Bandra. ``Tax-payers deserve a better deal from the BMC. After all age-old attitudes have to change. An overflowing dustbin is a shabby sight,'' points out Bhagwat.

If any of the BMC'scleanliness drive has to achieve its end, it is the citizen who can make it happen, feels Bhagwat. A view echoed by citizens' groups which are working with and without the BMC in select pockets to ensure a modicum of cleanliness.

``It's a 50-50 partnership between the BMC and citizens,'' comments Dr Sheliu Srinivasan, director of the Dignity Foundation which launched the Clean Mumbai with Dignity project in January 1998. Since then, 663 Dignitarians have been at work in the city's 23 wards. The project has also come up with some innovative ways of ensuring cleanliness: In June this year, about 30-40 Dignitarians took out a padyatra through the G South ward accompanied by civic officials. The Rs 8,000 that they collected by way of fines means that there may similar such padyatras in the wards with a Junior Overseer, who has the power to impose fines, in tow.

Dr Srinivasan also feels the conservancy staff needs to be as sufficiently enthused as the higher-ups. ``The sweeper on the streets needs to be ascommitted as the additional or the joint municipal commissioner. But there is no downward filtration. The commitment that begins at the very top has to filter down to the 35,000 conservancy workers, who themselves live in conditions that is lacking in hygiene,'' she felt.

Adds Naina Kathpalia of the Oval Cooperage Residents' Association, who is on the Bombay First's Solid Waste Management committee, ``The BMC is not going to be able to clean the city without citizens' help. The BMC's methods of clearing garbage have to change. But, citizens are also responsible for the mess that they create. Neither the citizens nor the BMC can do it on their own.

'' Adds Dinesh Ahir, member of the Action for Governance in India (AGNI), ``If citizens want a cleaner Mumbai, they cannot expect the BMC to do it on their own. The BMC has the machinery and the means, but citizens also need to exert pressure. If the BMC would have involved citizens in its cleanliness drives, there would have been greater awareness andparticipation.'' So, what does it take it to keep Mumbai clean? Says Bhagwat: ``If 400 people throw garbage at one place, I can pick it up with two trucks. But if 40 people litter at 400 places, we just can't manage. The attitude that if I throw a banana peel, somebody else will pick it for me has to change.''

-- Nandini RamnathWhile citizens have the right to expect a clean and garbage-free city, civic authorities have their own woes. As chief engineer (solid waste management department) R P Chitravanshi says: ``The BMC's job is to ensure that garbage is transported from bins to dumping grounds. But if people strew garbage everywhere, why should fingers be pointed at the BMC?'' Chitravanshi says this is one of the main reasons why Mumbai is not clean despite having 35,000 people on the clean-up job.

He, however, added the staff strength was enough, and the city is looking much cleaner than it did two years ago, though dirty and filthy roads prove otherwise.Barring Surat, there is no doubt thatthe BMC is still one of the best corporations in the country, but Chitravanshi disagrees.

``Almost all the roads here are cluttered with vehicles, and it is not possible to keep them absolutely clean,'' he contends.Conservancy staff say it is the lack of civic sense that is making Mumbai filthy. ``Most garbage bins have refuse piled outside, not inside them,'' added Chitravanshi. ``And unless citizens take it upon themselves to properly and hygienically dispose of garbage, it is useless to draw any parallel between Mumbai and other cities.'' He cited the example of people in USA who fill their garbage in plastic bags, empty it in bins, and then take the bags back.

``People should not be embarrassed to dump their garbage in bins,'' he added.Plastic, which has been banned in the city, also contributes to the mess. Garbage-filled plastic bags are nonchalantly thrown out of windows, said Chitravanshi. Even though the use of plastic bags has been discouraged, enforcement by the state government and the civicadministration has not deterred people from still using them on a large scale.What, then, is the solution to the problem?Senior civic staff seem to be doing their bit. The cleanliness drives have, however, proved to be flops, except for a drive kicked off in 1997 which was somewhat successful.

Additional Municipal Commissioner in charge of solid waste management, A K Jain announced that absenteeism by conservancy staff will be tackled on a priority basis. But only punitive measures will not work. Hence, a workshop is being conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, where the lowest level conservancy staff's problems - like alcoholism - will be studied.

All staff will be included and will be encouraged to reveal their problems.Municipal commissioner K Nalinakshan has called for more supervision of conservancy labourers. He contends that not only should the lowest level staff be punished, but supervisors, chief engineers, deputy municipal commissioners and additional municipal commissioners should bepulled up if subordinates fail to turn up. Nalinakshan feels senior civic staff should ensure overall cleanliness is maintained by labourers.

Prasanna Khapre Upadhyay