Civic officials said that the plan for the new dumping ground at Taloja has been under discussion for a few years now
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have to come up with a practical solution soon to dispose of 9,000 metric tonnes of garbage generated daily in Mumbai. This is because the extended time limit set by the Bombay High Court to dump waste at the Mulund and Deonar dumping grounds will come to an end by June this year, and the BMC is facing problems with the two plots that the state government has allotted as alternatives.
One of the plots is on the Mulund-Airoli road, and the Salt Commissioner has refused to hand it over to the BMC since the land is being used for a salt pan. The other plot is in Taloja, where locals have raised strong objection to a dumping ground being created in an already-polluted village.
Speaking about the 240-acre plot on the Mulund-Airoli road, Deputy Salt Commissioner JP Mishra In-Charge, said: "We have told the Collector's office and the civic administration that the land belongs to a third party and salt is still being made there. We cannot acquire the functional salt pan land and allow the BMC to dump garbage there. We have thus refused them permission."
Civic officials said that the plan for the new dumping ground at Taloja has been under discussion for a few years now. The 52-hectare plot, owned by the state government, was handed to the BMC in January last year for the new dumping ground to be created there. "However, there is encroachment on the plot and locals have raised concerns about the dumping ground affecting the health of people in a cluster of six villages, including Taloja, which fall in the periphery of the plot for the proposed dumping ground. They have no reason to worry, though, since the waste will be scientifically processed before it is dumped," said an official.
In February last year, the HC, after going through affidavits filed by the state and the corporation, noted that there is absolutely no possibility of Management of Solid Waste (MSW) rules being complied with by the year 2019 to scientifically treat garbage, which by then could have gone up to 15,000 metric tonnes a day. The court cited the ongoing construction activities in the city as the reason. It also suggested that the state government modify development control rules to allow the setting up of plants at the ward level for the disposal of biodegradable waste. "This part (processing biodegradable waste at the ward level) is being implemented by the civic body," the official said.
The Deonar dumping ground, started in 1927, and the one at Mulund, started in 1967, have long exceeded their dumping limits. The BMC was to have complied with MSW rules, which were formulated in 2000, by December 2013. But while the scientific treatment of waste is carried out at the Kanjurmarg dumping ground, the other two dumping sites don't have the necessary facilities.
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