Excerpt from DNA, reported by Pandurang Mhaske on Mar 28, 2011: Read Full Article

deonar dumping ground

Residents of Deonar, Mankhurd, Govandi and Chembur will soon be a relieved lot, as 45% of the dumping ground at Deonar will be scientifically closed down by the end of May. The entire project will be completed by December 2011.

Deonar dumping ground is one of the oldest and biggest dumping grounds in the city. It receives 5,500 metric tonne of refuse and 600 metric tonne of silt daily. Between March and June, the amount of silt goes up to 9,000 metric tonne because of drainage cleaning prior to the monsoon.

Bird hits at airport: HC asks BMC, Centre to file reply

Excerpt from TOI, reported by Shibu Thomas, TNN on Mar 18, 2011: Read Full Article

representational picture

The Bombay high court called for “some discipline and civic sense” for a clean image of the city.

“(There is a need to) keep the city clean, not just the area around the airport,” said the HC, which was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) about how the number of bird-hits has soared owing to the garbage being dumped in the area and the location of slaughter houses in the airport’s vicinity.

“Welcome to Mumbai,” Justice S J Vazifdar said half jokingly. He was sitting in a division bench along with Chief Justice Mohit Shah, when the advocate listed out the conditions in the area around the airport. “What is required is some discipline and civic sense,” said the Chief Justice.

Excerpt from Times of India, reported by Sharad Vyas on Dec 20, 2010 : Read Full Article

After earning a handsome advance on the delivery of carbon credits from ‘scientifically’ closing down the Gorai dump yard, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hoped to pocket a three times bigger amount once the curtains went down on Deonar, the city’s oldest waste site. But India’s overnight shift in Cancun on its policy on climate change and weakening support for extending the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012, put a dampener on the civic body’s plans.

It seems now that the Deonar project, for which much of the responsibility to reduce and sell carbon credit falls on the agency that was awarded the contract, may not prove to be as lucrative. “The market will be affected but it BMC as the deal agreement puts the onus of reduction and sale of credits on the agency. We had a hunch that the market would sink and we smartly left this uncertain part with the agency. That foresight has paid off,” said former additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev.

After earning a handsome advance on the delivery of carbon credits from ‘scientifically’ closing down the Gorai dump yard, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hoped to pocket a three times bigger amount once the curtains went down on Deonar, the city’s oldest waste site. But India’s overnight shift in Cancun on its policy on climate change and weakening support for extending the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012, put a dampener on the civic body’s plans.

It seems now that the Deonar project, for which much of the responsibility to reduce and sell carbon credit falls on the agency that was awarded the contract, may not prove to be as lucrative. “The market will be affected but it BMC as the deal agreement puts the onus of reduction and sale of credits on the agency. We had a hunch that the market would sink and we smartly left this uncertain part with the agency. That foresight has paid off,” said former additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev.

Excerpt from DNA, reported by Priyanka Sharma on Dec 10, 2010: Read Full Article

Obnoxious smell, piles of filth and garbage from the dumping grounds might soon disappear. The grounds will be transformed into green lungs of the city.

After the successful closure of the Gorai dumping ground was recognised globally at UN Climate Change Conference, a similar project is set to be replicated at Deonar. Changing Lives Of Gorai – a two-minute documentary, screened at Cancum in Mexico, depicted how the scientific closure of the dumping ground paved way for plush green cover.

A similar eco-friendly improvement at Deonar is expected. Dumping of waste on the 65-hectare land will be stopped. The BMC is also contemplating the reorganising of the dumping ground by shifting the scattered waste to a defined footprint area.

Excerpt from Hindustan Times reported by Bhavika Jain, on September 09, 2010 : Read Full Article

The air that you breathe is dirtier than last year. The civic Environment Status Report (ESR) 2009-10 says that the Air Pollution Index — calculated from the levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and suspended particulate matter (SPM) matter in the air — ranges from 17 per cent to 221 per cent across the city. Last year, the range was 11 per cent to 187 per cent. This means that the chance of you contracting a respiratory ailment has risen.

The pollution levels were the highest in the eastern suburbs, with the Bhandup-Chembur belt being the most polluted. On Wednesday, Hindustan Times had reported how the levels of carcinogenic substances — cancer-causing pollutants — have risen drastically since last year.

Tests in Chheda Nagar and Tilak Nagar, close to the Deonar dumping ground, found that 8.8 per cent of the of 147 residents surveyed had lung function defects.

Excerpt from Mumbai Mirror, compiled by Ajit Ranade on July 10, 2010: Read Full Article

There is something fishy about BMC’s approach of rewarding waste carters with generous ‘tipping fee’.

Mumbai produces six thousand tonnes of solid waste every day. This is the smelly stuff. There’s also debris from the frenetic construction which generates another two thousand tonnes.

The garbage is carted to four major dumping sites, at Gorai (near Borivali), Mulund, Kanjurmarg and Deonar. In those sites it is either buried or burnt or both. Some years ago, strange fumes started coming out of one of the landfill sites near Gorai, in Malad, spreading panic among the office towers which had sprung up on that site. In Deonar, garbage was being burnt all these years, causing smoke in surrounding areas of Chembur, Ghatkopar and Govandi.

The smoke led to many respiratory ailments for most residents living in houses surrounding Deonar dumping grounds, causing residents to form the Smoke Affected Residents’ Forum (SARF) in 1996. This forum filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the BMC in the high court asking for relief. Mumbai’s garbage has long since exceeded the city’s capacity to burn and bury it. Now the emphasis is on waste treatment.

By 2000, there was a national policy on urban waste management for all India which reiterated the need to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Is it possible to think of zero garbage localities? Rather than carting away waste, it is best to reduce it at the origin itself. By separating wet and dry garbage, by composting all biodegradable waste, it is possible to reduce waste to a minimum.

Excerpt from DNA by Hetal Vyas & Naveeta Singh on April 8, 2010: Read Full Article

The next time you fly in or out of Mumbai, your safety’s not only in the hands of the pilot but also the bird that may obstruct your plane’s path. A Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that the Deonar dumping ground, which is about 8km from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), is one of the main reasons for bird hits at the airport. The slaughter houses in the vicinity of the airport have always known to be the cause of bird hits, which pose a grave threat to lives of passengers.

Taking note of the increasing number of bird hits at CSIA — 13 in 2009 and 3 so far this year — Datta Mane, an advocate, has moved the Bombay high court seeking directives for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to revoke all slaughter house licences. In the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mane, he also wants the Deonar dumping ground to be shifted from its current location.

Excerpt from DNA, reported by Pandurang Mhaske on March 10, 2010: Read Full Article

Closure of the Deonar dumping ground is turning out to be tougher than the BMC thought as workers involved are being heckled, threatened and even beaten up by anti-social elements at the site. Adding insult to injury is the refusal by the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) to provide jawans to patrol the ground.

The civic body had started a scientific closure of the grounds a couple of months ago. It had appointed Tatva Global Environment Ltd to carry out the work of partial closure and maintenance of the dump on a design-build-own-operate-transfer (DBOOT) model. The project is expected to take two years.

But work is being hindered by antisocial elements and rag-pickers. Recently, civic officials and an engineer were assaulted by goons

aExcerpt from CG+, reported by Vibha Singh on February 13, 2010: Read Full Article

The Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) is again facing problems at the Deonar dumping ground with the local slum dwellers and rag pickers creating problems for Tatva Global Environment. The organisation has been appointed by the BMC to revamp the Deonar dumping ground. The contractors and the labourers working on the site are threatened by the locals working at the dumping ground.

The 127-hectare dumping ground, in existence since 1927, has been polluting the nearby creek waters besides contributing heavily to the deteriorating air quality in the neighbourhood. After a long battle between concerned residents and the authorities, the BMC was finally forced to give an affidavit in court stating that it would close the ground scientifically. The standing committee passed the proposal of closing the ground a couple of months ago.

BMC official says, “The menace has grown to such an extent that contractors are finding it difficult to carry out work at the site.” To carry out scientific closure of the dump, a project that is expected to take two years, the BMC needs to build a boundary wall.

Excerpt from DNA by Pandurang Mhaske , January 12, 2010: Read Full Article

In Mumbai, even a garbage dump needs to be safeguarded. The municipal corporation has sought police protection against anti-social elements and ragpickers at the Deonar dumping ground.

The menace has grown to such an extent that contractors are finding it difficult to carry out work at the site. For several decades now, the garbage generated by Mumbai has been disposed of at Deonar. Now that the site is to be closed, however, the Bombay high court has directed the corporation to fill it scientifically.

The BMC has appointed Tatva Global Environment to carry out the work of partial closure and maintenance of the existing dump on a design, build, own, operate,transfer (DBOOT) model.