The CM has asked an action plan for scientific waste management—something that is already under discussion for over ten years with no results
The CM held a meeting on Thursday to discuss effective waste disposal
Even as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed civic officials to set up a committee and submit an action plan for scientific waste management within a week, more than a decade of mulling over implementing the same at the city’s dumping grounds is yet to yield any substantial changes.
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The CM issued the orders after he, along with Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri, held a meeting on Thursday. A three-member team from the MOHUA was apointed to work out an emergency action plan, in collaboration with a three-member team from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The objective is to work out a plan for solid waste processing and legacy dumpsite remediation for Mumbai.
“Though the BMC has already started scientific treatment at all its grounds, it is not enough and the issue has to be resolved within a time frame. Hence, the central government has asked for a plan,” said a BMC official. On being asked how a plan that did not materialise for a decade could be framed within a week, the official said that this delay was precisely the reason why such a tight deadline had been given in the first place.
Currently, the city has three dumping grounds, one each at Mulund, Deonar and Kanjurmarg, after the one in Gorai was shut down in 2009. In 2016, the Bombay High Court order that the ones in Mulund and Deonarbe shut down as they had reached saturation. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation set up a treatment plant at Mulund and still sends its waste to the Deonar ground in the absence of a viable alternative. Mumbai generates around 7,200 metric tonnes of garbage daily, out of which 6,500 tonnes go to Kanjurmarg and the rest to Deonar. Mulund is the second-largest dumping ground for the city after Deonar.
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