Mumbai, April 14 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has unveiled a new action plan to improve "visible cleanliness" across the city, including a proposal to establish a centralised "war room" as a command centre for real-time monitoring and assessment. Proposed by civic chief Ashwini Bhide, the so-called war room will be supported by a centralised digital portal designed to track performance, streamline complaint redressal and enable better decision-making, according to a report by the BMC's solid waste management (SWM) department. For the first time, assistant commissioners across all 24 wards will be assigned clearly defined performance benchmarks, formulated by Kiran Dighavkar, deputy municipal commissioner (SWM). "The plan is backed by a data-driven assessment carried out between January and March 2026, during which complaints received by the civic body were analysed to identify recurring issues and service gaps," Dighavkar told HT. Dighavkar presented the findings at a review meeting held with the BMC's 24 assistant commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners on Saturday. The review highlighted 10 major categories contributing to waste accumulation in Mumbai (see graphic). Based on this analysis, the BMC has developed a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure and monitor sanitation outcomes more effectively at the ward level. Each of the city's wards will be assigned specific KPIs with clearly identified priority areas for improvement based on local challenges, Dighavkar said. These indicators will cover parameters such as waste collection efficiency, maintenance of garbage vulnerable points, dry waste handling, workforce attendance, functioning of Advanced Locality Management (ALM) groups, and disposal of domestic sanitary waste. "Currently, multiple responsibilities such as waste collection, lane cleaning, drain maintenance and toilet upkeep were often assigned to a single worker, leading to compromised quality of service," stated the report. "The absence of clearly defined standards for each task makes performance measurement difficult, while manpower planning has not kept pace with the evolving physical landscape of slum areas. These gaps have resulted in inconsistencies in service delivery," it added. To address these issues, the revised policy focuses on improving the quality of sanitation services, particularly in slum areas. It aims to ensure more efficient utilisation of manpower through better task allocation and to establish a clear division of responsibilities across sanitation functions....