Incinerator has residents of Chembur fuming …….Sukhada Tatke
Mumbai: At a time when Chembur residents are seeking the closure of the Deonar dumping ground for emitting toxic gases, a bio-medical waste treatment plant set up by the BMC at the grounds entrance is adding to their woes. The incinerator, which burns 10 metric tonnes of biomedical waste, is situated near residential buildings.
Social activists point out that incinerators are being slowly phased out across the world, but BMC maintains that the plant has been set up following guidelines given by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) that monitors the way the waste is treated.
There is no such thing as a safe incinerator. Anything that burns will give out harmful pollutants. Worse still is the fact that such a plant is situated so close to where people live, said Dipika DSouza of the Human Rights Law Network that had led a campaign called Med-Waste Action Group. We had objected to the incinerator in Sewree in the past, when ash from the incinerator would fly into residents homes. The BMC at that time was clearly not following the MPCB guidelines, she added.
When the plan came up for discussion at the standing committee, corporators from the area had opposed it tooth and nail. We are facing too many health problems because of the gases from the dump. Now, the treatment plant is making things worse, said Chembur resident Jyoti Mhapsekar.
Doctors, too, point to the harm caused by incinerators. Such plants emit dioxins which are extremely hazardous to health and are carcinogenic. They also inhibit the growth of the foetus and cause skin reactions, said Dr Sharad Kale, a scientist working at BARC. Bio-degradable waste is actually a resource, but when it is set to fire, it causes a lot of harm. The law of conservation
of matter goes kaput as elements such as sulphur and phosphorous and so on that are useful to trees become gases such as sulphur dioxide, phosphorous pentaxide, respectively, which are harmful, he said.
Additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev, however,said the BMC set up the treatment plant only after consultation with the MPCB. The incinerator is installed by the MPCB and it is monitoring it. If it tells us we are not carrying out the process correctly, we will shut it down, he said.
DEONAR HEARING
On Tuesday, The Bombay high court is likely to give its verdict on the contempt petition filed by the Smoke Affected Residents Forum in April 2007 against the BMCs laxity while dealing with the environmental problems arising out of continued dumping at the Deonar dumping ground. Incidentally, the proposal for the closure of the ground will be tabled at the BMC standing panel on Monday.