In absence of garbage collecting vehicle, Thane slum residents dumping trash in nullah

While some Thane residents are grappling with the question of whether to process their garbage or not, slum residents of Sathenagar and neighbouring areas do not even have a garbage collection vehicle — or ghanta gaadi as it is locally called as it has a bell attached to it to alert residents when it arrives —to pick up their waste. And with only one garbage bin for a populace of over 1 lakh, the residents have been dumping the household and other waste in a nullah, which is choked and needs cleaning.

The residents of Valmikipada, Sathenagar in Thane West have complained that they are stuck with a choked nullah even after the monsoon. After a nullah cleaning by the Thane Municipal Corporation during the rainy season, the area did not have to face flooding this year. But with barely a garbage disposal mechanism in place, the nullah has become a waste bin for the area.

"There is only one dustbin for the entire area of more than one lakh residents," said Meghraj Pandey, a resident of the area and a member of the Aam Aadmi Party.

"We either have to walk a kilometer to dump garbage in the bin or just toss it into the nullah," said Neeta Solanki, a resident of Valmikipada. As a result, the nullah is clogged around the year and there are mosquitoes, which might pose a hazard of dengue and malaria in the vicinity.

Pandey said that three to four years back there were ghanta gaadis plying in the area, but they shut shop after three months and left. "Since then there are no ghanta gaadis here," he said.

When we spoke to Ashok Burpulle, deputy municipal commissioner, solid waste management, he said that it is not possible for ghanta gaadis to enter the narrow lanes of the slums.
"We have appointed a private agency three days back to segregate and collect waste from these slums," says Burpulle. "We will also clean the nullah and educate the people on waste segregation and disposal," he said.