Plan to raise Deonar garbage pile height hits roadblock

The civic body’s plan to erect a tall heap of garbage at the Deonar dumping ground has hit a roadblock. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), from whom the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sought permission, has asked them to first establish coordinates for the piling up of this garbage.

The BMC had in February 2012 written to AAI seeking its permission to pile garbage at the city’s oldest yard up to a height of 50 metres from its original height of 35 metres. However, if piled up to the said level, the heap is likely to fall in the path of planes landing and taking off from the Mumbai international airport, possibly creating a hurdle in air traffic.

“Responding to our correspondence, the AAI has recently written to us seeking to know the coordinates of the proposed heap,” a senior civic official said, requesting anonymity.

The corporation will now have to submit the latitudes and longitudes of the location where the garbage will be piled up. This will be a time-consuming exercise as the BMC will now need to appoint a consultant to prepare a report on the same.

Meanwhile, residents too have urged the AAI to look into the alignment of air services from both the Santa Cruz and Juhu airports and also the proposed international airport in Navi Mumbai.

“If the height of the heaps of garbage is to be increased, the AAI should keep in mind the alignment of the two existing airports and the proposed one. Increasing height of the heap is anyways a concern for residents, because garbage piled up at such a height will produce a stench as there is no other building that tall in the vicinity of the yard,” said Rajkumar Sharma, a Chembur-based civic activist.

The municipal corporation, in the face of inadequate space to dump city waste — about 10,000 metric tonnes — had sought clearance from the AAI. The plan is to collect refuse spread over an area on 132 hectares and dump it in a 65-hectare portion of the yard while closing it. This will make available 67 hectares of land available for dumping in the existing place.

Anatomy of the proposal
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had in February 2012 written to the Airports Authority of India, seeking its permission to pile garbage at the Deonar dump yard up to a height of 50 metres from its original height of 35 metres.

However, if piled up to the said level, the heap is likely to fall in the path of planes landing and taking off from the Mumbai international airport, possibly creating a hurdle in air traffic.

The corporation will now have to submit the latitudes and longitudes of the location where the garbage will be piled up. This will be a time-consuming exercise for the BMC.