DEONARS SILENT KILLER
The Dumping Ground Is A Living Hell For Unprotected Workers And Residents As It Spews Deadly Pollutants Into The Air
Mumbai: The Smoke Affected Residents Forum (SARF) has filed a contempt petition against the BMC for not implementing a host of promises regarding the Deonar dumping ground.
Team TOI
Mumbai: The Smoke Affected Residents Forum (SARF) has filed a contempt petition against the BMC for not implementing a host of promises regarding the Deonar dumping ground.
When TOI visited the 127-hectare ground on Monday, none of the decade-old promises were in place. No fire engine waited outside, with staffers saying the fire engine from the Deonar fire station came on periodic rounds. Barefoot children played on the overflowing garbage, and rag-pickers without ID cards rummaged across the ground as security guards watched over. Six of the 12 high lamp-masts meant to illuminate the premises werent working. Neither the police chowky nor the air-monitoring station had been set up, admitted civic officials.
In fact, in an affidavit filed by the BMC a few years ago, the civic body had claimed that asphalt loop roads were constructed and the main road was also asphalted. However, TOI saw a different picture as the rickety jeep took us around on roads that had bumps, and still appeared kucha.
Incidentally, after the high court directive to file an affidavit by November 26, the BMC announced an ambitious planpegged at Rs 5,500 croreto scientifically close down half of the Deonar dumping ground in the next two years. Residents are not impressed. It is a clear violation of our human rights that the polluting ground is not being closed down completely, said Dr Neelam Rane of the Smoke-Affected Residents Forum (SARF). The violations are there for all to see.
The Deonar dumping ground that was built in 1927 is the oldest and the biggest one in Asia. While most dumping grounds are retired within 30 years, Deonar has outdone its saturation point and the garbage dumps are as high as nine-storeyed buildings. Currently, dumping is carried out on 110 hectares of the 127 hectares. Around 1,200 trucks full of garbage from all over the city come to empty the garbage daily.
When the British identified the 127 hectares of land abutting the creek, it was far away from civilization, save for small settlements. Today, thanks to the march of urbanisation, Deonar is right in the heart of the city, spewing killer gases every minute into the homes along Ghatkopar, Chembur and Vashi.
Around 25 lakh people are affected by the pollution from the Deonar ground, said SARF representatives, who had moved the high court against the smoking ground in 1996. A visit to nearby hospitals and nursing homes showed that several residents in the Chembur-Ghatkopar stretch have been showing up with an alarming incidence of respiratory problems. From frequent coughs to the more-worrying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the health of these citizens is in shambles. The civic ward has more cases of tuberculosis than any other part of the city.
According to additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev, the new proposal of the partial closure of the dumping ground, when passed by the standing committee would solve the problems. The scientific closure will include everything that has been recommended by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and municipal solid waste (MSW) guidelines. The project is really big and it takes time. MPCB has, however, told TOI that the partial closure is in itself a daunting task.
When asked if the BMC had adhered to all the promises made to the high court a decade ago, Rajeev said there was a fire engine in the nearby Deonar fire station. Security is a major problem, he admitted. We also have to build a compound wall and have fencing. We have included everything in the new proposal.
GARBAGE DATA
In use since: 1927
To be closed: 2033
Total area: 1.27sq km
Land used for dumping: 1.20 sq km
Household waste dumped daily at Deonar: 5,000 metric tonnes
THE BMCS PLAN
Area to be closed: 0.65 sq km
Area to be converted into processing unit and sanitary landfill site: 0.55 sq km
Electricity generation from captured methane gas : 3-4 MW
Cost of sanitary closure and green belt: Rs 150 crore
Cost of sanitary landfill site, processing unit: Rs 290 crore
Tipping fee: Rs 4,560 crore for 25 years
THE BMC FAILED TO MEET COURT GUIDELINES
1996: Writ petition 1138/96 filed in the high court by cardiologist, Dr Sandip Rane, against fires at the Deonar dumping ground and a plea to control fires After Justice M B Shah gave orders to control the fires, BMC filed an affidavit outlining its short-term and long-term measures to improve the conditions