While BMC is grappling with the issue of handling the mounds of garbage in Deonar dumping ground and the eastern suburb residents are crying hoarse cursing increasing health hazards.
While BMC is grappling with the issue of handling the mounds of garbage in Deonar dumping ground and the eastern suburb residents are crying hoarse cursing increasing health hazards, Almitra H Patel, member, Supreme Court Committee for solid waste management (SWM) for class 1 cities, has provided a solution to clear the existing garbage.
Patel in her letter to TC Benjamin and Manu Kumar Srivastava, principal secretary and secretary of the Urban Development department, government of Maharashtra, states that ‘bio-mining’ is the ideal solution to handle garbage woes in Deonar.
Bio-mining, she says, is not just cost-effective but also helps eliminate methane production, unlike the so-called ‘sanitary landfill’ method proposed by the BMC.
The BMC’s standing committee had rejected the corporation’s proposal for partial closure and the sanitary landfill on the 110-hectare plot in Deonar dumping ground. This proposal of Rs3,495-crore for 25 years had come in response to a contempt petition filed by the Smoke Affected Residents’ Forum (SARF) in April last year against civic chief Jairaj Phatak, calling the dumping ground’s continued existence a violation of human rights.
In her letter to the Urban Development department Patel said, “I am happy to learn that the Rs3,495-crore exorbitant, unnecessary and unsafe proposal for ‘capping and treatment’ (treatment unspecified) at Deonar has not been accepted and a fresh tender is called for.”
Explaining the process of bio-mining, Patel said, “Basically, old waste is loosened by tractor-harrow and bulky items are hand removed. Then, this old waste is sprayed with composting bio-culture, formed into wind rows (long heaps two metres high) and turned into useful compost through bio-stabilising. The old waste also reduces by 40%.”
Patel says that a successful pilot of bio-mining was carried at Gorai dumping ground in 2003-04 which had attracted visitors all over India.
“At Gorai, with a budget of Rs10 lakh from the BMC, a hill of garbage 10 metres (33 ft) high and one hectare area was cleared to ground level by Vini Agro in just 3 months to create fresh waste disposal space. A tender for further bio-mining never saw the light of day, due to BMC’s preference for super expensive projects with a ‘foreign’ tag,” she said.
Patel added that BMC’s proposed methodology for closure of dumping ground at present is carbon credit-driven and overlooks the possible hazards of methane leakage.
The Deonar dumping ground singly accommodates the entire waste of Mumbai and has already exceeded its limit, especially after two other dumping grounds at Malad and Gorai were recently shut down also for being overburdened. A whopping 8,000 tonnes of waste is brought to the Deonar dumping ground everyday — that’s the entire volume of waste that Mumbai generates in a day.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}