BMC Bans Garbage Burning To Combat Air Pollution - Read Guidelines Here

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) banned the burning of garbage in open spaces. Earlier, Mumbai Guardian Minister Deepak Kesarkar said that the civic body had sent notices to 6,000 construction sites. BMC asked them to install fogging machines and sprinklers.

Addressing a press conference on October 25, Keskar said that BMC is working on a plan for the segregation of waste. Soon the BMC will devise a plan for the segregation of waste - extraction of pollutants from the garbage - at its two landfills in Deonar and Kanjurmarg.

BMC has set up a new guideline to mitigate air pollution. BMC said that a complete ban will be imposed on open burning anywhere in the geographical area under its jurisdiction, especially garbage dumping grounds and possible sites of trash burning.

The civic body is doing its best to handle the issue of air pollution. BMC will deploy 30 clean-up marshals throughout the city to monitor spitting, littering, garbage dumping, and burning. The ones caught breaking these laws will be levied with heavy fines. At certain spots, where the air quality is extremely poor, BMC plans to install air purifiers.

Keskar said that the government is extremely serious about controlling air pollution in Mumbai. In the past, no one reviewed these issues in the civic body; going forward, Keskar stated that he would keep a close eye on the situation and review it once a week. Within the next two months, an improvement in the city's air quality is expected.

BMC has collected 15 per cent more garbage in 2022-23 than in 2021-22, an average of 6,385 metric tonnes per day (MTD) from its 24 municipal wards. While BMC’s waste segregation is restricted to residential areas and gated societies, more than one-fifth of the waste is collected only from three wards - L, G/North, and K/East. The biggest slum cluster in the nation, Dharavi, is located in Ward G/North, and waste segregation is not practiced there because of a lack of knowledge.

This points out that while garage burning is rampant, the civic body has not imposed any fines despite having laws implemented in 2006. Speaking to reporters at the BMC headquarters, Guardian Minister Kesarkar said that the landfills' environs have high Air Quality Index (AQI) readings. Keskar said that they are examining the way of waste disposal and will work to enhance the infrastructure currently used by the civic body to process waste. In order to stop the leachate discharged from reaching the river and sea, they will also erect barriers and curtains. Keskar further stated that BMC is exploring bio-mining options. Bio-mining is a scientific method used to extract pollutants from metal waste.Talking about the increasing air pollution from construction and developmental works, Keskar said that the civic body has sent notices to 6,000 construction sites across the city. Currently, Mumbai is witnessing heavy lifting of construction works which is contributing to the city’s poor AQI. The civic body has sent a notice to all the contractors, stakeholders, and agencies involved in the civil works, and ordered them to set up fogging machines and water sprinklers at the construction site, and if they fail to do so, action will be taken against them stated Keskar.