MUMBAI, May 11 -- The BMC on Saturday blacklisted for three years a contractor who had been given the responsibility of desilting minor nallahs, culverts and roadside drains in M West ward, covering Chembur and Govandi. After the civic body found the contractor, M/s Bhumika Transport, adding debris to the silt to increase its weight, the company's two-year contract, worth around Rs.13 crore, was cancelled without any money being paid. The contractor's registration with the BMC was also cancelled and a complaint was filed with the Nehru Nagar police station. "We were alerted through a complaint with photographic and video evidence of the contractor mixing debris into the silt in the dumpers transporting the silt," said Shankar Bhosale, assistant commissioner of M West ward. "As the vehicle number was visible, we got details about the contractor through it. Other photographs of the same vehicle and contractor were checked, which were uploaded onto our AI system, which proved that debris was being mixed with the silt to manipulate the weight." In March, the BMC had announced that it would be using AI-powered systems to detect malpractices in desilting by analysing mandatory videos of the desilting process. As monitoring each vehicle is not possible, the process would be automated, additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar had told HT. "For example, if construction debris or rocks are being dumped instead of the expected silt, AI-powered systems will help detect these irregularities," he had said, adding that the anomalies would be flagged in real time, allowing for immediate verification by an onsite official. However, when asked on Saturday why AI had not detected the cheating earlier, Bhosale said that identifying the adulteration required officers to inspect the footage. "This incident came to us through a complaint, but we were able to investigate further and pinpoint the contractor and the day the video was taken through AI," he said. Defending AI, he added, "AI has separately been flagging several discrepancies which we have been dealing with, but this incident was intentional and with malafide intention, which is why taking strict action was necessary. AI is new and is learning to flag dust due to silt adulteration. It keeps learning." Additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Joshi, who on Saturday inspected desilting works at several nallahs in Zone 2, which covers parts of Central Mumbai, also mentioned the use of AI to analyse the real quantity of silt removed....