MOPPING UP DEBRIS
Civic body struggles to dispose of Diwali waste ……….Sharad Vyas I TNN
Mumbai: Diwali festivities have posed a problem for the BMCexcess waste generated from a million crackers going up in smoke.
According to BMC figures, on October 28, the Diwali night, the city generated 1,000 metric tonnes of additional waste. However, extra machinery and manpower were deployed to keep the situation under control. Post-Diwali, the streets were squeaky clean and the waste systematically disposed of, officials said.
The BMC said 9,900 tonnes of waste was dumped at Deonar dumping ground and 3,000 tonnes at Mulund a day after Diwali. On regular days, Deonar accommodates 9,500 tonnes and Mulund 2,400 tonnes of waste. An additional 185 vehicles were put on duty on Diwali night.
The average waste generation of an individual went up drastically during Diwali. But we kept the situation under control, said A Karim, chief engineer, solid waste
management.
The BMC figures show that on any given day, the per capita generation of waste in Mumbai is about 450g per person a day. But each person generated nearly 80g to 90g of additional waste on Diwali, officials said.
Every year, civic officials promise to carry out a comparative study of the waste generated on Diwali, but not much has been done. However, in 2006, the BMC had carried out a study and found that Mulund was the cleanest residential area, generating only three metric tonnes of waste compared to Kurla which generated a mammoth 230 tonnes, on Diwali. The overall waste collection on Diwali was 929 tonnes. We are yet to carry out a comparative study for this year, said Karim.
Officials agree that this year, disposing waste was a problem because of shortage of dumping grounds since a fire has been raging at Deonar and Mulund for the last 15 days. The dumping problem has compounded because of Diwali, but we are looking at all possible solutions to douse fire, Karim had earlier told TOI.