Wet garbage woe plagues Thane residents

Though the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has extended its deadline by a month for bigger housing societies in Thane to manage their own garbage, the societies want the civic body to manage its wet waste. They say that they can manage dry waste but do not have the wherewithal to set up expensive bio compost machinery.

On June 17 over 35 big housing societies from Thane had a meeting to discuss ways and means to manage their own waste. This was after the TMC on June 15 gave them one more month to adopt the waste management system. "After a lot of discussions we zeroed in on the idea to segregate the wet and dry waste of our societies," says Siva Kumar Vunnava from Bramhand phase VI, Ghodbunder road. "We will manage dry waste, but TMC should take care of the wet waste. Putting up a wet waste plant requires around Rs 10 to Rs 12 lakh," he adds.

The residents also demand that TMC should put up a waste processing plant on vacant plots in the city since there's no dumping ground. "They have given a waste processing plant to an NGO at Kopri. Why cannot it do the same on other plots in the city? They can levy a surcharge to process and maintain it," says Mahendra Deshmukh, chairman, Prakruti Park co-operative housing society, Bramhand, Thane.

The residents fume that the TMC is trying to get rid of its responsibility. "We do not have parking space in our buildings and they want us to start our own solid waste management plants," exclaims Deshmukh.

The residents hope that good sense will prevail over TMC. "We will appeal to the TMC commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal to reconsider this decision. Or else we will start a signature campaign and approach the court about the same," warns Vunnava.