A forty-foot-high garbage mountain of the Deonar dumping ground, which
receives over 450 trucks full of garbage everyday, has made lives difficult
for the staff of the Shivaji Nagar depot of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply
and Transport (BEST) Undertaking.
The Deonar dumping ground, which is nearing its saturation point, is not only an eyesore for the residents but the stench leaves the depot employees in such a bad shape that two
air-conditioned buses have been brought from the nearby Ghatkopar depot to
accommodate the staff during the night. “Normally during the evenings the
dumping ground starts stinking badly. It is so unbearable that, on request,
we get two air-conditioned buses to sit in till the foul smell reduces,”
said a BEST conductor on the condition of anonymity, who has been working at
Shivaji Nagar depot since four years.
“We are surrounded by mosquitoes, bees, other insects, bad odour, etc. We are working under bad conditions but we don’t have any choice,” added another conductor. Pitching to fight for the depot staff, BEST Worker’s Union General Secretary Sharad Rao has
written to BEST General Manager Uttam Khobragade demanding to shut the
nine-year-old depot and shifting it to Govandi. “The staff at Shivaji Nagar
depot has been working in inhumane conditions since many years. I’ve written
to Uttam Khobragade demanding to close the depot before March 15 or we will
not allow the depot to function,” said Rao.
According to the staff of the depot, the daily burning of the garbage at the dumping ground creates huge smoke which had left people with problems like breathlessness, chest pain
and other ailments. Meanwhile, no decision on the demand placed by the union
has been taken by the BEST administration yet. While agreeing to the harsh
conditions the depot staff is working under, Assistant General Manager
(Traffic Operations) V Y Amdekar said, “We have been taking steps to bring
down the pollution level at the depot and have fitted pollution measuring
meters in the premises to keep a check on it. Staff faces problem of foul
smell during night and not in the day time.But so far I’ve not received any
orders to shift my activities from the depot to elsewhere.” He also added,
“To deal with the insect problem during night we provide two air-conditioned
bus for the staff.”
Another major problem faced by depot staff is the shortage of water. Since there are no direct water lines provided by the BMC to meet the shortfall, water from Ghatkopar depot is brought to this depot.
“We avoid drinking water here, most of the time we get water from home,”
said a security guard at the depot. Denying the water shortage in the area,
Amdekar said, “They get the best quality water from Ghatkopar depot. Water
purifiers are fitted in the depot.” The union’s demand of shutting the depot
may be too hard to consider by the BEST administration as the depot is among
the good revenue depots of the undertaking, an employee states, “We have no
other choice but to work here irrespective of the conditions… we have to
feed our families at the end of the day,” an employee said.