Mumbai | September 10, 2026
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has proposed replacing its 13-year-old sanitation programme for underserved slum settlements with a new Mumbai slum sanitation scheme that would use GPS-based tracking and before-and-after photographs to monitor work. The proposed programme would cover 10,309 units and cost the civic body about Rs 136 crore annually.
The expenditure would be met from the Solid Waste Management department’s budget, according to the proposal reported by Times of India – Mumbai. The Brihanmumbai Sanitation Services Scheme is intended for slum pockets where regular BMC sanitation services do not reach adequately.
The proposal comes amid concerns over the quality of sanitation work under the existing Swachh Mumbai Prabodhan Abhiyan-Adopted Settlement Scheme, which has been in operation since 2013. Under that system, one organisation handled several tasks, including lane cleaning, door-to-door garbage collection, cleaning of garbage bins and public toilets, drain cleaning, road cleaning on roads up to 20 feet wide, and cleanliness awareness activities.
Under the revised structure, one unit would comprise 150 families or about 750 residents. An eligible organisation would be assigned a settlement containing a minimum of five and a maximum of 15 units. Organisations would receive Rs 90,000 per month per unit for basic sanitation work and an additional Rs 9,000 per month for sanitation material and equipment.
The material and equipment allocation would cover items such as masks, gloves, jackets, gumboots and raincoats. It would also support daily record-keeping and mobile phone use, taking the total proposed monthly grant to Rs 99,000 per unit.
A central feature of the new scheme would be expanded documentation and real-time monitoring. Organisations would have to upload photographs of areas before and after sanitation work, while GPS-based tracking would allow the BMC to monitor the location and progress of operations. The civic administration expects the system to create a record against which the quality and extent of work can be assessed.
The proposal also includes performance-linked incentives. A monthly assessment would be carried out, and one organisation would be selected through a draw based on its performance score to receive an award of Rs 21,000. The scheme has been given the slogan “Our Community, Our Pride, Our Health”.
Participating organisations would also be allowed to use Corporate Social Responsibility funds to provide healthcare facilities for sanitation workers, according to the proposal. The reported plan does not establish when the new scheme will formally begin or detail the process through which participating organisations will be selected.
