Soon, law against residential areas near dumping zones
In a bid to curb civic problems arising from the residential areas being near the citys dumping grounds, State Minister for Urban Development Bhaskar Jadhav said the state would make a provision to legally disallow residential areas around any dumping grounds developed in future.
Jadhav told the state legislative council on Thursday that the state would also reserve specific plots for dumping grounds in the citys new development plan. The new development plan is being drafted and is expected to be ready by 2014.
The dumping grounds are created away from the city to avoid any discomfort to people but a few years down the line residential areas crop up around these dumping grounds, giving rise to social problems we had meant to avoid in the first place, Jadhav said.
We will make a provision in the law saying residential areas should not be allowed to come up within a particular periphery of the dumping grounds from now on, he added.
The issue was discussed as part of a calling attention motion by NCPs Hemant Takle on the inconvenience caused to the residents living around the dumping ground at Kanjurmarg (East).
Takle alleged that the plot used as a dumping ground now was earlier reserved for building houses.
Jadhav accepted that the land was reserved for building houses, but was used as a dumping ground later following the directives of the Supreme Court.
A few years ago, a residents group had approached the Supreme Court against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the closure of the dumping ground at Chinchavali. Later, another residents group moved the Bombay High Court for the closure of the dumping ground at Gorai. The courts had ruled in the residents favour. As per the Supreme Courts directive, the salt commissioner had handed over 141.77 hectares at Kanjurmarg to the state government to be transferred to the BMC.
The BMC spends around Rs 300 crore a year for garbage collection and disposal and nearly 6,500 tonnes of waste generated in the city is transported to its dumping grounds daily. The BMC also has dumping grounds at Deonar and Mulund.