Dharmendra Jore: Mumbai legi meri jaan

Mumbairsquos solid waste management has become even more critical in view of health threats that the fires at Deonar dumping ground had posed through the highest level of air pollution over the past three days The unending fire and deadly smog had Mumbai raging against the civic and state administration and politicians For several lakh residents living around the Deonar site Mumbai is no longer their jaan life but they are forced to say Mumbai legi meri jaan Mumbai will take my lifeUnfortunately the hapless people will continue to suffer as no immediate solution is in the offing The crisis is here to stay at least for a couple of years say BMC officials adding that their efforts of making solid waste management smarter will succeed only if things donrsquot get mired in dirty politics corruption and administrative hasslesMumbai creates a mammoth 10060 metric tonnes of waste per day according to BMCrsquos Environment Status Report 201314 The cityrsquos per capita generation of waste is 450 grams per day This includes biodegradable wet waste food leftovers 54 per cent biodegradable dry waste wood cloth etc 15 per cent sand stone and fine earth particles 12 per cent plastic 9 per cent paper metals and other reusable waste 10 per cent The BMC spends around R2500 crore on managing the waste every yearThe city has just three dumping grounds that together occupy 222 hectares of land which will soon not suffice if BMC does not treat its waste scientifically before dumping it Two new dumping sites in Taloja and Airoli are expected to operate in a smart way mdash the waste will be treated here scientifically There are plans of making sand from the construction debris at the Mulund dumping site The Kanjur Marg site has a fertiliser and gas generation facility in place However the plan to generate electricity from waste is still on paper as some consultants are working on itBefore initiating treatment at dumping grounds the BMC has been trying segregation of waste at the original sources like homes People with some civic sense do segregate waste in their society but BMC doesnrsquot have enough infrastructure to collect segregated waste Cityrsquos untiring ragpickers prove a great help in segregation of waste at BMCrsquos speciallydesignated centres but the city needs more such centres We also need to organise ragpickers so that they do their jobs more efficientlyAnd even if waste gets segregated at some places the BMC does not have a foolproof system to check that the segregated waste is not mixed with other at dumping ground It is because of this callousness that a huge quantity of dry waste reaches dumping grounds where segregation facility may not be available all the time And it was this dry waste that kept the Deonar fire burning for four days thereby risking the lives of people CM Devendra Fadnavis has asked to probe the incident after allegations were made that civic contractors could be responsibleApart from the solid waste issue the city faces a great difficulty in disposing its sewage water Only a half of its sewage is treated before getting released into the seas The sea water pollution may not affect you as directly as dumping ground fires but its long term effects will be as fatal as air pollution We donrsquot need a scientist to tell where you get your daily fish from how dirty saline waters contaminate our ground water table and affect wetland ecologyEven as the issue has become political the last man we should look up to is Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta The agile bureaucrat has taken on the mighty lsquocorruptrsquo in the civic system be it people in nullah cleaning road construction or employment scams It is no secret that Mehta has a mandate from his political bosses in Mantralaya to set things right in the richest civic body of the country where the Shiv Sena has been ruling the roost for more than two decades and has failed in applying its mind to resolving solid waste managementDharmendra Jore is political editor midday He tweets dharmendrajore Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom