The standing committee of the BMC has raised objections to the proposal for scientific land-filling and closure of the Deonar dumping ground.
The standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has raised objections to the proposal for scientific land-filling and closure of the Deonar dumping ground.
If the standing committee does not approve the proposal, it will take three more years to float and process new tenders for closure of the dumping ground, additional municipal commissioner RA Rajeev said. But by then, the dumping ground will become useless, he said.
The Deonar dumping ground covers 120 hectares. The BMC had proposed dividing the dump yard into two parts of 65 hectares and 55 hectares. It had suggested that the 65 hectares can be scientifically closed and converting the remaining 55 hectares into a sanitary landfill site through public-private partnership at a cost of Rs5,500 crore over the next 25 years. If the dumping ground is filled and closed in a scientific manner, it can be used for the next 25 years.
The standing committee’s members from the BMC’s ruling party have objected to the high tipping fees - Rs4,560 crore - laid out in the proposal for the next 25 years.
Ravindra Waikar, chairman of the committee, said, “Instead of paying this huge amount, we can have eight small units of 1,000 tonnes each for processing the garbage. Eight entrepreneurs can participate in the system and the BMC can control it. Even if a plant fails, the others will be functioning. Why should the whole contract be given to just one entrepreneur?”
“There should be eight plants across the city,” Bhalchandra Shirsat, standing committee member and BJP leader in the BMC, said. “It will be better for collecting and transporting garbage.”
In response to a writ petition, the BMC had filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court saying that scientific closure of the Deonar dumping ground was on. If the standing committee does not approve the proposal, then the civic body will have to file an affidavit again explaining the delay, sources said.
The BMC got Rs22 crore from the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for closing the dumping ground scientifically, Rajeev said. If the proposal is not cleared, the civic body will have to return the amount, he said.
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