Thane crumbling under its own waste

T he Thane Municipal Corporation is facing the daunting task of disposing tonnes of garbage generated by the city everyday, with all efforts to recycle the waste bearing no fruit. The corporation’s latest plans to set up a new recycling plant at Ghodbunder to convert garbage into fertilizer has also been put off for the time being, following stiff opposition from local residents and the elected representatives. It may be recalled that a similar plant, which was set up in 1998 at Kopri and running successfully for almost a year, was permanently shut down after strong protests from the residents of Thane (East).
Thane generates about 800 tonnes of waste everyday, of which more than half was recycled at the Kopri plant till it was functional. Ever since the Kopri plant was shut down, after residents dragged the matter to High Court, almost 400 tonnes of waste is now dumped at the dumping grounds on the outskirts of the city. However, with the dumping grounds expected to be full in a few months time, the corporation is facing a problem to manage waste generated by the city. As a solution to the garbage problem, the civic admin istration mooted a plan to utilise 5 acres of land from the 18-acre reservation at Ghodbunder to set up the waste-recycling project. A resolution for this effect was tabled before the General Body, but no sooner the resolution was tabled, there was a huge furore against the proposal and the issue threatened to snowball into a major public agitation. Citing the example of the Kopri plant, the protestors claimed that the garbage-recycling project would severely affect the lives of the local residents of Ghodbunder area. Reacting to the administration’s claim that even the Kopri project is a feasible one and likely to be resurrected in the near future, the opposition leaders demanded that the Kopri project should first be restarted before setting up of any new project elsewhere in the city. Eventually, the proposal has been postponed for discussion at a future date. Till the time the recycling projects get underway, tonnes of garbage will continue to pile at the city’s dumping ground.

Publication: HT; Section: HT Thane & Mulund; Pg: 11; Date: 18/8/06