As reported in DNA by Linah Baliga on Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Residents of Deonar (M-wards) are up in arms against the BMC for its decision to install a bio-medical waste treatment plant (BMWTP) in the area despite opposition from the local people and their 19 corporators.
The corporators said they had approached additional municipal commissioner RA Rajeev in 2008 when the proposal for a BMWTP had come to the Standing Committee meeting for an approval. But the official did not pay heed to their request and went ahead with the installation, they said, adding that the plant is a health hazard.
“Rajeev has been adamant and gone ahead with this plant. We tried to make him understand how dangerous an incinerator is,” said Raja Chougule, corporator, M-west ward. “When we visited the site with ward committee chairman Suresh Patil, we found that the air pollution control meter was missing in the plant. In Hyderabad, in 2003, the pollution control board had concluded that medical waste should be buried, not burnt,” said Mohammed Farooque, corporator, M-east ward.
Corporators also pointed out that they had no faith in the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) who had failed to monitor incinerators in the past, in Sewree.
“We had asked the BMC to purchase land in Thane and Taloja. But the M ward has become Mumbai’s dustbin,” said Choughule.
Rajeev said, “The bio-medical waste treatment plant has been made operational to treat the waste coming from municipal hospitals.” He refused to divulge any more information about the plant, saying he was busy.
The Standing Committee had recently turned down the proposal of partial closure of the dumping ground in Deonar. So with the additional BMWTP, it has added to the residents’ existing woes.
“We feel cheated by the BMC. They have not stuck to their word though we did a signature campaign and opposed it at the ward committee meeting. We are affected by the smoke from the dumping ground,” said Rajkumar Sharma, a Chembur resident.
Kala Suresh, a Deonar resident, said, “Is the BMC blind to the perils of Deonar? This is like sounding a death knell for us. Do they have no value for the life of the middle class? This is so undemocratic.”
Incidentally, MedWaste Action Group, an NGO, had objected to the incinerator in Sewree in the past, when ashes from the incinerator came flying into residents’ homes. “In Sewree, the BMC not following the MPCB guidelines. The operator was opening the incinerator to use waste as fuel,” said Deepika D’souza, a MedWaste activist.
