Court tells state to shut illegal dumps right away

Dissatisfied with state’s inaction in proper implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, the Bombay high court on Tuesday asked it to stop illegal dumping with immediate effect.

A division bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and AP Bhangale was hearing a bunch of petitions either seeking directions to close dumping grounds at various places within Mumbai or raising concern over non-implementation of the rules.

The court also directed the secretary from urban development department to find out where civic bodies are dumping garbage on plots not reserved as dumping grounds and issue instructions to municipal corporations or councils concerned to stop illegal dumping.

The court has sought to know why no action has been taken by the state government for years despite it (illegal dumping) involving serious health-related issues. The secretary has been told to submit information about the number of garbage dumping sites and number of sites reserved and earmarked specifically for dumping garbage within a week.

Acting on the petitions, earlier, the court had asked NEERI to visit a landfill site at Navi Mumbai and submit a report. Taking a stern view of civic officials’ apathetic approach in complying with environmental norms while dealing with urban waste, the bench had also directed the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to conduct site inspections and submit a report whether the dumping sites at various places in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai complied with the rules.

One of the petitions is filed by Sunstream City Private Limited, which owns a plot in Mulund (East) admeasuring 18,000sqm. It’s located next to the land where garbage collected throughout the eastern suburbs is being dumped. The petition alleges that the civic body isn’t complying with the rules at the site.

According to senior advocate Milind Sathe, who represented the company, the garbage heap at the Mulund ground has gone very high and half of the dump has slipped over on to the company’s plot. Sathe also said that the dump has destroyed mangroves on the CRZ plot.

@DNA