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Scroll.in
2 days ago
- Health
- Scroll.in
Toxicology levels at Mumbai's Deonar dumping ground four times permissible limit: Report
The levels of toxicology indicators at the Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai are up to four times the permissible limits prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board, a study commissioned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has shown, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. The study comes against the backdrop of plans to relocate residents of Dharavi, who will be displaced due to the slum redevelopment project, to the dumping ground site after clearing it. The 326-acre landfill in the city's eastern suburbs is India's largest and oldest dumping ground, with the garbage mounting up to 35 to 40 metres, as high as a 12-storey building. It holds nearly 1.85 crore metric tonnes of legacy, or aged and accumulated, waste. Several reports have pointed out that settlements around the dumping ground are exposed to mercury and toxic gases. The waste characterisation study commissioned by the municipal corporation analysed the levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Dissolved Solids in the waste and leachate, or liquid leaching out of the waste piles, at Deonar, The Indian Express reported. Biochemical Oxygen Demand is the amount of oxygen that microorganisms require to decompose the organic matter under aerobic conditions, while Chemical Oxygen Demand is the total amount of oxygen required to break down the organic matter by chemical oxidation. The Total Dissolved Solids refers to the measure of all inorganic and organic materials dissolved in water. All three are key indicators of environmental toxicology. Higher levels indicate increased toxins. According to the study, the average Biochemical Oxygen Demand in the leachate was 390 milligrams per litre, according to The Indian Express. The permissible limit of this indicator is 100 milligrams per litre (land) and 30 milligrams per litre (water). Additionally, the average Chemical Oxygen Demand was 1,002 milligrams per litre, with the permissible limit being 250 milligrams per litre (water), the study noted. It added that the average Total Dissolved Solids level was 6,550 milligrams per litre. The permissible limit was 2,100 milligrams per litre. The report also noted that 'inert waste', including construction debris and non-biodegradable material, comprised 30-50% of the waste, according to The Indian Express. 'This type of waste poses challenges for disposal and management due to its… low degradation rate,' the newspaper quoted the study as having said. The study was commissioned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 2023 and conducted by NETEL India Limited, in a joint venture with NM Consultants-SKW Soil and Surveys, The Indian Express reported. The report was made public in May after the municipal corporation floated a Rs 2,368 crore tender to clean up the site by a process of bioremediation, a natural or accelerated process that uses biological organisms to clean up environmental contamination, within three years. Kiran Dighavkar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), told The Indian Express that the tender document has mentioned that the methodology of processing the legacy waste, including the leachate, should be ideated by the contractor who will be awarded the contract. 'After the contractor submits the proposal, we [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation] will analyse it and, if required, a peer review process will be carried out through a reputed agency,' Dighavkar said. 'After we approve the methodology, work will start on the ground.' He added that the contractor for the work would be finalised by June 23. The Dharavi slum redevelopment project is being carried out through a special purpose vehicle, in which the Adani Group holds an 80% stake and the state government holds the remaining 20%. Along with the rehabilitation of slum residents, it involves redeveloping buildings and informal tenements as well as developing infrastructure such as water supply and sewage in Dharavi, considered to be among the world's largest slums. Until the Dharavi redevelopment is complete – a process that could take decades – the Maharashtra government has decided to relocate residents to various neighbourhoods across Mumbai. A large section of residents, those who have been declared 'ineligible' to receive new homes in Dharavi, will be permanently shifted to the dumping ground in Deonar, which is 12 km away. Ineligible residents are those who either live on upper floors in Dharavi's shanties or built their tenements after 2000.
Time of India
7 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Lack of infra for solid waste management key concern among citizens, shows BMC public consultation
Mumbai: The BMC received 2,774 responses during its large-scale public consultation on its Draft Solid Waste Management Bye-Laws 2025, held from April 1 to May 31. The consultation, supported by the Civis Foundation, aimed to capture citizens' lived experiences and actionable suggestions. Key concerns raised by citizens included a lack of infrastructure for waste segregation, irregular garbage collection, insufficient bins, and challenges in high-density settlements. Respondents also flagged underutilised composting systems and demanded decentralised alternatives such as micro-composters. While the BMC recently announced its move to defer the implementation of a user fee for the collection of solid waste, feedback on user fee was sought under the process, and mixed responses were received: 49% supported it, while 43% opposed it, citing fairness and confusion. As for fines in cases like littering or urinating in public spaces, 52% felt these would improve civic behaviour, but 66% wanted these implemented only after toilets and bins were in place. Only 39% of citizens found daily waste segregation practical. Mumbai generates 8,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, a majority of which ends up at the Kanjurmarg dumping ground and a smaller portion at the Deonar landfill. The draft bye-laws, proposed to replace the ones from 2006, were uploaded on the BMC website on April 1. Citizens were able to review the draft and submit their suggestions or objections until May 31 via email or several other means. At 2,418, most responses came via a WhatsApp chatbot, with the remainder through emails, town halls and field interviews. Deputy municipal commissioner for solid waste management Kiran Dighavkar said Civis was appointed specifically for gathering feedback from all sectors of society, from slums to formal housing. "We are looking at finalising the bye-laws in a month," he said. Civis, a non-profit that partners with govts to enable informed public participation in policymaking, is the BMC's official consultation partner for the initiative. It developed a WhatsApp chatbot that allows citizens to understand the solid waste draft in minutes and share their suggestions with the BMC. Civic officials pointed out that many citizens focused on everyday sanitation and waste segregation, but certain topics — such as construction and demolition waste, disaster-time waste handling, biomedical waste segregation, and extended producer responsibility (EPR) compliance — saw limited engagement. Several suggestions received strong public support, including multilingual IEC (information, education, and communication) campaigns for community engagement, school-based civic education, and the appointment of local waste ambassadors. Other suggestions included the introduction of night-time waste collection shifts for markets and arterial roads, replacement of cash fines with QR code-based challans, creation of public dashboards to track ward-wise performance on sanitation, fines and compliance, and the development of pilot zones with strict enforcement and reward systems to create replicable "clean ward" models.
Hindustan Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Dharavi dreams: Inside the plan to transform Asia's largest slum
'Dharavi is the Malabar Hill of Indian slums,' said Kiran Dighavkar. He was the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) assistant commissioner of G-north ward — under which Dharavi falls — during Covid, and widely lauded for his handling of the lockdown in the world's third largest and densest slum. 'If anyone living in a slum in India gets a marriage proposal from Dharavi, it's considered a leg-up for them.' Unlike the two other slums larger than it — Khayelitsha in Cape Town and Kibera in Nairobi, which lie on the outskirts of their cities — Dharavi's unique advantage is that it squats, 620 acres of swamp, sewer and slums, right in the heart of Mumbai. But now, it's that locus that is upending the lives of Dharavi's one million residents. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) comprising the government of Maharashtra's Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) and the Gautam Adani-owned Navbharat Mega Developers Private Limited (NMDPL) is in the midst of reimagining Dharavi which, in turn, involves widespread displacement including, for some, a possible relocation to a cleared landfill. 'Globally, this would be one-of-a-kind project,' said conservation architect and principal director of Urban Centre Trust in Mumbai, Pankaj Joshi. 'There have been other urban projects that have involved large-scale redevelopments like Wapping in London, the Hudson Yards in New York or the central waterfront at Rotterdam, but they were built on disused land. Here, we are talking about a piece of land that is densely packed with people and industry. Terms like urban renewal or regeneration don't apply to Dharavi because it's saturated with activity.' 'DRP is a transformative initiative aimed at overhauling one of Mumbai's most densely populated and economically significant areas,' said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. 'Our aim with its redevelopment is to provide residents with improved housing, sanitation, and infrastructure. It's a chance to modernise industrial units to increase productivity and employment opportunities,' he added over email. 'Also equally, it's an opportunity to improve urban planning and integrate Dharavi into Mumbai's broader urban framework, addressing issues of congestion and accessibility.' The idea of redeveloping Dharavi and unlocking a precious land parcel in the heart of Mumbai has been a gleam in the eye of many a politician. Twenty-seven years ago, Mukesh Mehta, a suave architect, trained at the Pratt Institute, met Balasaheb Thackeray with a plan to redevelop Dharavi. 'Balasaheb had launched the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp Yojana, a slum rehabilitation scheme to rid Mumbai of its Slumbai tag, and he was keen on Dharavi redevelopment.' Mehta created a concept that he called HI-HIKESS which involved developing facilities for Housing, Infra, Healthcare, Income-generation, Knowledge centres, Environment, Social integration and Security. 'Balasaheb loved the idea and asked me to discuss it with Uddhav who also approved of it. I got myself an office in Dharavi and thought I was on to a good thing.' Mehta had the idea alright but no money. Left at the mercy of successive governments, he got a rude lesson in the opacity of the bureaucracy. Finally in 2012, fourteen years after he had mooted the idea of Dharavi redevelopment to Balasaheb Thackeray, a committee of government secretaries scrapped the project and asked Mehta to leave. He is now in court against the Maharashtra government but refuses to go into the details of the litigation. Yet another claimant who subsequently stepped up to redevelop Dharavi, a UAE-based consortium, Seclink Technologies Corporation, too is in litigation with the state government challenging the overturning of its 2019 winning bid of ₹7,200 crore to redevelop Dharavi. The state government had annulled the tender and called for fresh bids in 2022 citing escalating costs and project modifications. 'To carry out redevelopment in Dharavi you need patience, very deep pockets and unstinting government support,' said Mehta, sipping beer in his sprawling art-lined apartment and reconciled with his once passion project now being executed by someone else. He would be 'happy' if Adani accomplishes the redevelopment, he said. 'It's an idea whose time is finally here.' Unease within In the cramped and buzzing innards of Dharavi, though, there is some unease. 'There is absolutely no transparency about the redevelopment plan. Ninety per cent of Dharavikars will be thrown out of the area. Even the ground-breaking ceremony in September last year was done in a secretive manner. If there is no ill-intent, why not put the plans in the public domain?' asked Baburao Mane, former lawmaker and resident of Dharavi who leads the Dharavi Bachao Andolan. The residents, said Mane, want in-situ rehabilitation and flats of 500 sq. ft. as opposed to the 225 sq. ft. most of them occupy at present. NMDPL officials who asked not to be named say the masterplan is with the government and it's for them to make it public.'The government is committed to ensuring housing for all. No one in Dharavi will be left behind,' said bureaucrat SVR Srinivas, the CEO of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. For the residents, what's adding to their apprehension is the ongoing enumeration survey to decide who is eligible for in-situ rehabilitation. Those who can provide documents showing they have been living in Dharavi from before 2000 will be entitled to 350 sq. ft. homes within Dharavi, while those who came subsequent to that cut-off date have been termed as 'ineligibles' and will be rehoused in 300 sq. ft. quarters elsewhere in Mumbai. A 2006 UN-Habitat document defines a slum household as one that is lacking in any of the following: Durable housing, sufficient living area, access to potable water, sanitation and secure tenure. In India, however, there is no formal definition of what qualifies as slum. This ambiguity leaves Dharavi's agitators little option but to make full-throated noise about their demands and canvass political support. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) along with smaller parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party support these residents. In a city, increasingly under the sway of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Dharavi stands out as the last bastion for these parties. Dharavi has voted a Congress MLA for five consecutive terms; the south-central Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, of which Dharavi forms a significant chunk, has returned a Shiv Sena MP for three consecutive terms, while Dharavi's seven BMC wards have been dominated by corporators from the Congress and the Shiv Sena in the last three BMC elections. That makes at least some of the opposition to the project, political. 'Dharavi has been a consistently loyal voter base for certain political parties. To have a captive voter base disperse on account of redevelopment naturally raises their hackles,' said the urban planner, Pankaj Joshi. When he was still with the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) in 2018-19, Joshi's team of urban planners and researchers had produced a compendium of ideas to reimagine Dharavi. But there's more. Joshi put his finger on the central conundrum that dogs any efforts to redevelop Dharavi. 'From a slum pocket in the 1970s, Dharavi has emerged as a service provider not just for Mumbai but for the world. When you break up Dharavi, as is bound to happen in any redevelopment, you are breaking up a thriving ecosystem that offers great value.' Dharavi has 5,000 GST registered businesses, 15,000 household factories, and thousands more informal businesses, said BMC's Kiran Dighavkar. They range from industrial scale units recycling paper, plastics and textiles to robust pottery businesses. It also has units that make imitation jewellery, leather goods and wigs; it has coin smelters as also the city's largest farsan and idli making units. In its stiflingly-hot warrens, artisans from Uttar Pradesh produce exquisite embroidery for ateliers in Paris. The leather units provide base frames for handbags for international fashion houses, and elsewhere in the slum, sutures made from catgut are supplied to hospitals across India. In a 600 sq. ft. unit, like many of its kind across Dharavi, Mohsin Ahmed produces jeans which are sold to leading Indian denim brands. Selwan K, a member of the Dharavi Businessmen Welfare Association, estimates the annual turnover of Dharavi's multiple businesses to be in the vicinity of ₹10,000 crore. 'We've had multiple meetings with members of the NMPDL but they have not provided us with any clarity on the provisions for commercial properties in the masterplan,' he said. While NMPDL officials declined comment on the plan for resettling industries, Fadnavis told HT that there's no real reason for concern: 'All eligible commercial and industrial tenements will be accommodated in the Dharavi Notified Area (DNA) itself.' Space, he added, will be provided as per government resolution terms and conditions. The slum that houses Tamilians, Maharashtrians, Hindus, Muslims, Malabaris, Gujaratis and Christians has only one caste and one religion, said Kiran Dighavkar: 'Being Dharavikar. And they are motivated by only one thing, which is business.' Row upon row of slums grow vertiginous in the narrow lanes. They house the original inhabitants, their kith, kin imported from the village, the family's business unit and also the workers who toil there. Each of these tenements rising up to the skies in its inhabitants' search for upward mobility. So why dismantle Dharavi now? Six hundred and twenty acres in the heart of Mumbai is 'priceless,' said Dighavkar. Mumbai's ongoing and potentially transformative infra upgrade has made it even more precious. Serviced by two suburban rail networks, a spanking new metro line, the Sion-BKC Connector, the coastal road that has shortened the commute to south Mumbai, and the upcoming bullet train make Dharavi the city's most conveniently-located pin code. Separated from India's priciest commercial real estate, BKC, by a ribbon of sludge that is the Mithi river, Dharavi, when redeveloped, is expected to command prices upwards of ₹50,000 per estimate realtors. Multiple people that HT spoke to within DRP and the Adani-owned NMDPL said the project is expected to take 10 years to complete and the entire cost of the project is pegged at ₹2.5 lakh crore, including the price of land. 'The Maharashtra government is not putting in a paisa,' said a person close to the project. But the state government has handed over parcels of land across Mumbai to house the so-called ineligibles displaced by Dharavi redevelopment, and for free sale. In addition to 500 acres of usable land in Dharavi itself, NMDPL has been given 21 acres of land at a defunct state-owned diary at Kurla, 140 acres at Aksa and Malvani in north Mumbai, 40 acres of railway land at Mahim, 124 acres at Deonar — after the landfill has been cleared at BMC's expense — and 240 acres of land at Arthur, Jankin and Jamasp salt pans at Mulund and Bhandup. This largesse of 565 acres of land in addition to Dharavi's 500 acres given to NMDPL is backed by another clause. Any builder across the city looking to buy TDR (transferable development rights, or an instrument of transferring development rights from one area to another) will have to mandatorily buy 40% of their requirement from NMDPL, making the company one the most powerful builders in Mumbai. NMDPL officials counter criticism of any favouritism by pointing to the tender document for the Dharavi redevelopment project assuring concession in indexation. The Maharashtra urban development department has also said that the TDR mandate will be applicable only after the generation of TDR and as per the available quantity only. 'The Dharavi redevelopment is a vital public purpose project and some concession was necessary as earlier bids had no takers,' said SVR Srinivas. In February, he told the media, 'Unlike previous tenders, this time housing will be provided for all eligible residents, doubling the number of tenements. Naturally the cost will also increase, and TDR is part of this financing structuring to make this project viable.' As per the survey conducted so far, say NMDPL officials, nearly 50% of Dharavi's residents will be rehoused in-situ and given 350 sq. ft. flats. But Dharavi's famed potters' enclave, Kumbharawada, has already been marked ineligible. 'They had vacant land tenancy on BMC land but once the DPR was notified, they lost the right to be there. We will, however, re-house them elsewhere,' said an NMDPL official. 'Essentially, we are looking at future-proofing Dharavi; conceptualising a town that will become the heart of Mumbai. For the first time in Mumbai, or perhaps anywhere in India, slum dwellers will get houses, the titles of which will be in their own names.' Ineligible residents and industries and commercial units in Dharavi could be moved to either the Deonar landfill after it has been cleared or to the salt pans, or to an altogether new piece of land somewhere in MMR about which 'we don't know as yet,' the official added. Those who came to Dharavi between 2001 and 2011 will have to pay extra if they want more than 300 while those who settled in Dharavi after 2011 will have to bear the construction cost of their tenements as decided by the government. Commenting on the use of salt pan land, DRP CEO Srinivas said, 'The salt pan land was officially decommissioned by the Salt Commissioner of India some years ago. No salt manufacturing has been happening there for nearly a decade now. The seawater never even reached these areas after the construction of the eastern expressway. There is no issue with construction of affordable housing there and, unless we take such judicious steps today, the city could crumble under the population burden in the coming years.' For now, it's not just Dharavi's artisans and residents who await the unveiling of the masterplan, but also the rest of Mumbai. 'The chief concern is that it should not become yet another venue for one class of people to supplant another class,' cautioned Pankaj Joshi. After the mixed results of mill land redevelopment and the unthought out construction of BKC — with no open public spaces or amenities — Dharavi could be the last chance to reimagine an inclusive city, he said. NMDPL appears confident it can do that.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Govt clears Deonar landfor 600cr biogas plants
Mumbai: The state has approved the handover of 18 acres of land at Deonar by the BMC to Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) for the establishment of 1,000 TPD (ton per day) compressed bio-gas plants in two phases. MGL is expected to invest over Rs 600 crore in constructing and operationalising the plants, which will process 1,000 ton of wet waste per day. MGL is expected to earn around Rs 74 crore annually through the sale of the produced gas. The state cabinet, chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Tuesday approved the allotment of the plots to MGL at a concessional rate. The central govt aims to set up 500 biogas projects, including 75 bio-methanation projects, in urban areas under the Gobardhan scheme. While the cost of setting up these projects will be borne by oil and gas marketing companies, the central govt has directed states to provide land and basic facilities at a nominal rate for the projects. The BMC proposed to relax the condition regarding the reserve price of the plots and sought the state's approval. The consolidated reserve price of the land is over Rs 132 crore. The state approved handing over the land to MGL for a lease rent of Rs 72,843 per year for two plots for 20 years and an extended five-year period. An MoU was signed between BMC and MGL in June 2023. Deputy municipal commissioner (solid waste management) Kiran Dighavkar said the BMC will benefit from the project as a huge quantity of wet waste generated in the city will be processed. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trade Bitcoin & Ethereum – No Wallet Needed! IC Markets Start Now Undo Minor encroachments will have to be cleared before handing over the plot for phase 1, which is located on the outskirts of the dumping ground, where a BMC garage for bulldozers and excavators is housed. For phase 2, which is being allotted at the dumping ground, there is a need for carrying out bio-mining on the land to clear it, which will be carried out soon, an official said. Wet waste generated from hotels, restaurants, banquet halls, and vegetable waste from vegetable markets will be segregated before being supplied to the plant. Each of the bio-gas plants will produce 18 ton of compressed biogas per day. The biogas, purified and compressed, can also be used as auto fuel. Though the project entails the use of 500 ton per day in each phase, provisions have been made for a 10% increase. Source-segregated wet waste will be provided free by the BMC.
The Print
17-05-2025
- General
- The Print
With a ‘13-storey' mountain of waste, why Deonar dumping ground closure is a challenging task
Now, finally, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set in motion a plan to close the site. On Wednesday, it floated a Rs 2,368-crore tender to close the site in three years. The source of this toxic smoke is the Deonar dumping ground, where solid waste has been piled over years to form a garbage mountain that now stands as high as 40 metres (equivalent to a 13-storey building), and witnesses recurring fires. Mumbai: The residents of localities such as Deonar, Chembur, Govandi, Shivajinagar are no stranger to plumes of black smoke raising a stink in entire neighbourhoods. The clean-up will be a slow and gradual exercise, involving a process called bioremediation of legacy waste, mandated by the central government for clearing dumpsites. Bioremediation uses micro-organisms or plants to break down and remove pollutants from the environment by converting them to less harmful or non-toxic forms. Spread across 311 acres, the Deonar dumping ground began in 1927 and is the oldest operational landfill in Mumbai. Out of the total land parcel, the state government has earmarked 124 acres for Dharavi redevelopment, while the BMC will keep 136 acres. The remaining land is marshy and unusable, said officials. According to BMC assistant commissioner Kiran Dighavkar, who is handling this project, the site currently has 2 crore metric tonnes of waste and removing it is going to be a mammoth task. 'This is one of the largest (dumpsites) in the country. Such bioremediation projects are undertaken in the country but they are of very small scale. This is a challenging task,' Dighavkar said. Currently, Mumbai generates 7,200 tonnes of waste daily. After Deonar closes, Kanjurmarg dumpsite, which is operational since 2009-2010, will be the only active dumpsite in the metropolis. Deonar dump yard The Deonar landfill is in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. During the early 20th century, Govandi, Deonar, Shivajinagar and Mankhurd localities were open ground with a little inhabited land. However, settlements started growing in the area with time and it underwent rapid urbanisation in the 1990s. According to the BMC data, 600 tonnes of solid waste is dumped at the site every day. This has also become a cause of air pollution and environmental hazards for residents in the vicinity. According to BMC data, M/E Ward in the vicinity of Deonar reports low life expectancy and high tuberculosis prevalence. Also Read: Could cloud seeding help Delhi breathe easier? Here's why it's up in the air The project During a meeting held in November 2023 between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the BMC, a decision was taken to close this dumpsite by using the bioremediation method. According to the BMC tender, the scope of the project includes bioremediation of nearly 2 crore tonnes of legacy waste—which is a mix of partially or completely decomposed biodegradable waste, plastic waste, textiles, metals, glass and other components. This has to be excavated, segregated, processed, utilised, and disposed of. The BMC says as a process, it will introduce bio-culture for bioremediation to accelerate the decomposition of organic waste. A thorough testing of output material will be conducted to ensure environmental compliance. There will be five sets of machineries working simultaneously across the landfill. Besides, the project involves transport of the Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF)—a fuel produced from waste materials, primarily municipal solid waste—to cement factories or waste-to-energy plants. The soil and other fractions would be disposed for site levelling or filling in low-lying areas in accordance with the approved environmental laws. The project mandates sending recyclables i.e. metals, plastics to authorised recycling units. 'The project shall be executed using scientific methods, minimising environmental hazards such as methane emissions, groundwater contamination, air pollution etc. under Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 & CPCB Guidelines including all environmental protection measures,' said a BMC official. According to Dighavkar, the process will segregate the waste by using large sieve machines and separating the fine soil and plastics and dry waste that can be reused. The plastics can be then used in cement companies as combustibles and for energy. The Deonar dumping ground will see a total of 2,000 vehicle movements per day carrying 25,000 metric tonnes of waste processing per day. Deonar is not the first landfill that will undergo a bioremediation. The bioremediation of the Mulund dump yard was started in 2018 when it was ordered to be shut down. However, even seven years later, and despite having 60 lakh metric tonne waste, much less than the Deonar site, only 67 percent work is done so far, said Dighavkar. 'It still will be another year before it shuts down. Though many factors like Covid and all were in play, this can give a comparative study of how mammoth the challenge is before us,' he said. 'Deonar is an over-ambitious project considering that we can't work during the monsoon months. So, technically we have about 24 months.' Also Read: This is how London tackled air pollution. Delhi can learn Controversies and fire The dump yard is infamous for its recurring fires. Major fire incidents were reported between January 2015 and March 2016 at Deonar. In 2016, the fire raged on for five days, causing BMC schools in the area to be shut down. People in the nearby localities were having difficulty breathing for days because of the smog and high level of particulate pollutants Following these fires, the Bombay High court had ordered the BMC to shut down the Mulund and Deonar dump yards, observing they have reached their saturation points. At that point, the dump yard used to receive about 3,000 MT of waste daily. But the civic body got a time extension till December 2019 to shut it down. Then again in 2018, a fire broke out in Deonar, which went on for a couple of days. The BMC says that the civic body has been trying to find a scientific way to shut down the landfill since 2005. A couple of years ago, the BMC said it will build a waste-to-energy plant in Deonar to scientifically convert waste into energy. The plant is supposed to process 1,800 tonnes of waste daily and generate 8 MW of electricity. However, the plant is yet to be built and as per the civic body it is expected to be ready by October 2025. But already the residents of Govandi are up in arms against the proposed plant, saying it will emit toxic chemicals, endangering their lives. Advocate Abid Abbas Sayyad, a resident and an activist of the Govandi-Deonar area where this project is expected to come up, told ThePrint such a project comes up normally in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area and not in densely populated residential areas. 'The corporation has not looked after the health hazards here. The life expectancy in Givanid is low and here tuberculosis prevalence is high. This is not good for the residents here and now they will shift Dharavi residents here too. This is not good,' he said. Besides the concurrent fires at the site, another reason why the dumping ground became controversial is because of the state government's decision to allot it for the Dharavi redevelopment project in September, just before the assembly elections. Opposition to the project After Thursday's tender notice to clear up the dumping ground, the opposition MVA raised strong objections to it. 'Helping the Seth ji make a profit by dumping people in a landfill, this is truly a Kachra Seth Sarkar! The shameless Adani sarkar has got the @mybmc to float a 2368 crore rupees tender for Deonar dumping ground,' Congress Mumbai North Central MP and city Congress president Varsha Gaikwad wrote on X. She said norms mandate that even after closing the dumping sites, human settlements should not be allowed for at least 15 years. 'The Maharashtra government will do anything to please the Seth, so what if it requires sending Dharavikars to die in a dumping ground!' Gaikwad added. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray alleged the BMC has imposed 'Adani Tax' on Mumbai in the form of 'waste management fee'. He claimed the BMC has forcibly taken over a parcel of land in Mumbai, now linked to the Adani Group, for relocating around 50,000 residents from the Dharavi slum cluster under the redevelopment project. He claimed the cost of cleaning and managing this land is being passed on to Mumbai residents. 'Why should Mumbai be made to pay to clean up a parcel of land snatched by the Adani Group?' Thackeray stated. These allegations from the MVA have continued since last year, when, before the poll code of conduct kicked in, the state government allotted 1,080 acres in areas such as Kurla Dairy, Mulund, the salt pan lands, the Deonar dumping ground and Madh Island to the Adani-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL) to create housing for those deemed ineligible under the project. That the land parcel falls partially on the Deonar dumping ground sparked severe criticism. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also read: Mumbai doesn't want to become Delhi. BMC, Bombay High court crack down on AQI
