Thane faces green rap over waste management

In response to a Sunday midday report dated October 15 the National Green Tribunalrsquos NGT Pune bench initiated suomotu action directing the Thane Municipal Corporation TMC to promptly address the accumulated ldquolegacy wasterdquo The directive includes expeditious clearance of the existing waste and the submission of a closure plan by May 31 2024The temporary dumping groundmdashlocated on a hill in the Chauda Gaav areamdashhas been utilised by TMC for nine months resulting in the accumulation of legacy waste amounting to 1 lakh metric tonnes MT Residents of a cluster comprising fourteen villages in Thane district have been actively opposing the establishment of the temporary dumping ground situated on a hill in the Chauda Gaav area The NGT took suo motu action against the TMC in response to the October 15 midday reportIn an order issued on January 10 2024 the NGT mandated that the TMC must clear the existing waste or legacy and present a closure plan in the next four months As part of this directive the NGT has stipulated that a bank guarantee of R5 lakh is to be deposited with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board MPCB within two weeks from the date of the order If the TMC fail to complete the specified tasks within the given timeframe the deposited amount will be subject to forfeitureThe 14 villagesmdashBhandarli Narivli Bale Dahisar Dahisar Mori Mokashipada Uttarshiv Goteghar Waklan Bamanliv Nighu Nevali Pimpri and Nagavmdashare still under gram panchayat administration while the areas around them are governed by municipal corporations The NGT order reads ldquoApplication was registered pursuant to the action taken by the Principal Bench of this Tribunal vide order dated November 23 2023 on a news item published in lsquomiddayrsquo newspaper on October 15 2023 wherein it was reported that the residents of a fourteen village cluster in Thane District fight against a dumping ground set up by the Thane Municipal Corporation TMC located on the hills in Chauda Gaav area which led to the flow of dirty water going down in the villagerrsquos home resulting in bad smell sicrdquoIn February 2023 the TMC respondent no 2 announced that it would be dumping its municipal waste on a patch of land on the hill which was opposed immediately by the local residents However at the time is was said that this was a temporary arrangement for a year During the hearing the counsel representing the TMC informed the court that the dumping activity at the temporary dumping ground in Chauda Gaav had ceased on October 25 2023 They further stated that a new dumping site had been identified at Daighar where a wastetoenergy plant is in operation The counsel also disclosed the preparation of a detailed project report for clearing legacy waste However neither the quantity nor a specific timeline for the clearance was provided The request for additional time to furnish these details was granted by the green courtIn the response affidavit submitted before the NGT dated January 2 2024 TMC mentioned that Thane city generates a daily waste of 9001000 metric tonnes The existing dumping ground in Diva had reached its maximum capacity leading TMC to dispose of and process waste on private land at Bhandarli However a postclosure plan for Bhandarli must be submitted to the MPCB A leachate well has been constructed at Bhandarli to collect and treat leachate at the nearest sewage treatment plant in Mumbra The newly designated site at Daighar has commenced operations with TMC obtaining authorisation and consent to operate from the MPCBThe order further mentioned ldquoThe legacy waste of the Bhandarli site is around 1 lakh MT which is likely to be cleared within 2 to 3 months and the tendering process will be completed by February 15 2024 Evidence for the same has also come on record that on January 31 2023 the operation at Bhandarli was started which was stopped on October 25 2023 sicrdquoPointing out that garbage dumping has been part of a stinking controversy literally for some time in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR NGO NatConnect Foundation has called for finding a permanent solution B N Kumar founder and director of NatConnect said ldquoThe urban areas are rapidly growing and the solid waste crisis has been mounting The NGT order should be seen as a stern reminder to our urban plannersmdashthe urban development department in particularmdashto examine the issue and take steps to check irresponsible dumping before it is too late ldquoOne has not heard of any concrete steps from the lsquodouble enginersquo government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to make our cities garbagefree There has been a lot of talk about generating power from urban waste but not much has been done on that frontrdquoldquoAs for Chauda Gaav the area was once part of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation NMMC and they were represented by two corporators The village panchayats had themselves decided to break away from NMMC and now they want to rejoin the NMMCldquo Kumar addedLocal resident Laxman Patil said the TMC initially said that it was just a temporary measure for dumping of drywet waste from Thane city limits ldquoHowever it evolved into a health hazard for locals We endured the stench and health risks due to the chief ministerrsquos request However the temporary solution didnrsquot show signs of stopping prompting our protest Irsquom unaware of the NGT order and there has been no action to address the existing waste issue so farrdquoRs 5LakhBank guarantee to be deposited with MPCB