Rs 1.15-crore deo to spray out odour at Deonar

To tackle the foul smell emanating from the Deonar dumping ground, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now decided to spray herbal deodorant worth Rs 1.15 crore on the heaps of waste and garbage lying there.

The civic standing committee on Tuesday gave its nod to allot the herbal deodorant works to M/s DP Engineering and Developers for a year.

About 2,000-2,500 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped daily for disposal at Deonar dumping ground, the city’s largest dump site.

According to civic officials, the quantity of garbage is expected to rise during monsoon.

The civic body has received complaints of foul smell from the residents of the surrounding areas.

However, corporators from the opposition parties have slammed the civic body’s move. Opposition leader Pravin Chheda from the Congress demanded to know how a deodorant would be able to curb the smell effusing from such a large quantity of garbage.

“Even when we spray perfumes on human body, it does not last for more than a few hours. So, how can you expect the smell of deodorant to last on a dump yard full of garbage,” he said.

Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh said that instead of going in for such fancy measures to curb the smell of garbage, the BMC should concentrate on building the boundary wall around the ground and placing CCTV cameras. "All these measures that were promised by the authorities when the fire broke out in the dumping ground early this year, have not been implemented so far. The boundary wall that has been constructed is of such poor quality that it cannot sustain. Its construction work is going on very slowly. The watchtowers have not been erected at the dumping ground," he said.

Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee said that the herbal oil is insect repellant and they are taking all short-term measures to tackle the waste at the dump.

“The herbal oil would be sprayed five times a day for a period of one year. The boundary wall work is 90 per cent complete, whereas tenders for installation of watchtower would be invited soon,” he said