Straight answers

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">M N Chaini</span><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">, President, Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC), On BMC''s rejection of their cleanliness proposal for Mumbai</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Are you surprised to see the ambitious ''Mumbai chakachak'' proposal dumped by the standing committee of the BMC without even a discussion?</span><br /><br />It is rather unfortunate.The incident shows that politicians are not committed to the people of this city. The project was conceived by officials from the BMC, state government and committed experts. Not only is this group not interested in overt publicity, it has no political affiliations either.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What makes your strategy different from that adopted by the BMC? </span><br /><br />BMC''s cleaning programme is too primitive. Our idea was to use automatic equipment plus manual cleaning. We would take into consideration the problem of garbage in each area as well as the habits of residents living there. For example, in the B-ward, there are 900 lanes — some as narrow as just three-feet wide. We proposed the use of cycle rickshaws to start the cleanliness programme. The proposal also talked of educating people about segregating garbage etc. We were getting help from corporates and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority too. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">So what went wrong? </span><br /><br />I guess our project has become a victim of the on-going political tussle between the DF government and the Sena-BJP, which rules the BMC. Ours was a professional strategy and had nothing to do with any political party. It is sad to see politicians capitalising on this, even at a cost to Mumbai.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Does this mean that MEDC has given up on this project?</span><br /><br />We will not get bogged down by this rejection. We will get our proposal implemented by garnering support from the common people. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Can this ensure success?</span><br /><br />Only if we adopt the Bangalore model in which people like Narayan Murthy are involved in city issues. We need the involvement of people of similar standing in Mumbai. <br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">smita.deshmukh@timesgroup.com</span></div> </div>