MMRDA wants Rlys to revive Kachra Depots
With dumping grounds overflowing, wants to transfer treated garbage to common landfill sites outside the city ………..ALPITA MASURKAR
The railways are considering a request by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to carry garbage from the citys dumping grounds to common landfill sites (CLS) in the vicinity. The garbage would be treated and made environmentally safe before being transported out of the city in special wagons.
At present, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which includes Thane, Kalyan, Dombivli, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, generates 11,209 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) everyday. Of this, over 6,000 tonnes of MSW or up to 60 per cent of the total is generated in Mumbai alone.
At this rate, the dumping grounds will be overflowing in no time. But MMRDA believes it can increase the life span of the dumping grounds by treating the garbage.
The city can grow vertically but the dumping grounds cannot. Hence, it is best that existing sites are used economically and for a longer time. At present, dumping grounds like the one at Deonar are overflowing. However, if waste is treated, the remnants will amount to just 25 to 30 per cent of the total waste. These remnants can be transferred to landfill sites, thus increasing the shelf life of the dumping sites, says M R Shah, principal adviser, solid waste management (SWM) project cell, MMRDA.
MMRDA has identified six such landfill sites to cater to the MMR region, which includes 13 cities and seven towns, for the coming 50 years. They are located at Bhiwandi, Kalvan-Shil Phata, Taloja Industrial area in Navi Mumbai, a site off Panvel-Pune highway in Navi Mumbai, Airoli and Ulhasnagar-Ambarnath.
At present, garbage is transported by road, but this is an expensive mode of transportation. This is where the railways comes into the picture.
According to Shah, Road transportation is effective within city limits. However, when it comes to connecting the entire MMR, rail wagons will be more convenient and cheaper. Since wagons will carry only remnants, and not the waste itself, to the CLS, it will not harm anyone.
Following two meetings between senior officials from both sides, the Konkan Railway has offered to coordinate with other rail networks and conduct a feasibility study on setting up a rail network.
The concept is not entirely unknown to the railways. In the 1920s, a railway service, popularly called Kachra Depot, used to carry waste from Mahalaxmi to the Deonar dumping ground via Elphinstone, Parel and Kurla. The service was stopped in the 1970s and replaced by the garbage trucks.
Shah says, Such systems do exist in some countries. If successful in MMR, it will be a role model for other urban bodies in India.