A delegation of citizens from Chembur, Deonar, and other areas affected by the dumping ground fires, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday. Mr Fadnavis, they said, assured them that fire-fighting equipment would be installed at the dump within 12 hours, to prevent and manage future fires.
“The CM said he was personally monitoring the situation,” Vandana Trivedi from Chembur, part of the citizens’ delegation, told The Hindu. “He assured us of starting a scientific garbage processing unit at the earliest, and [also] asking the BMC to make the proposed Taloja land operational for garbage dumping. However, he did not commit to any timeline. Our demand was to set these processes in motion immediately and shift the dumping ground from Deonar.”
Earlier on Sunday, Kirit Somaiya, MP for Mumbai North-East, Tukaram Kate and Prakash Phatarpekar, the MLAs from Anushakti Nagar and Chembur respectively, faced the ire of around 200 local residents at a citizen’s meeting at Chembur on Sunday morning. “It was a heated meeting.” Hemant Petare, general secretary of the Chembur Citizens’ forum told The Hindu. “Everybody wanted to speak. No one wanted to hear any explanations. We all wanted solutions. Citizens highlighted their health problems and demanded shutting down of the dumping ground. Homemakers conveyed their struggle with breathing the smoke and expressed concerns about the health of children.
Mr Phatarpekar said he had visited the site for half an hour, and though the smoke had reduced the feeling of breathlessness induced by high pollution levels persisted. “People are very much annoyed,” he said, but added, “This is not a problem that can be sorted out overnight. This has to be a continuous process till a concrete solution is arrived at. It is a multi-facetted problem.” Mr Patarpekar threw the blame back to the last time his party was not in power in the BMC: “The administration should have had the foresight 20 years ago [to foresee] the population increase and the subsequent increase in waste and disposal concerns. A PIL was filed in 1996 to which the BMC filed an affidavit in 2008 that it will shift the dumping ground, and yet the government is not taking any action.”
A delegation of residents will meet Maharashtra chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya and BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Tuesday.
As Mr Petare says, “At least a dialogue has started.”
