In order to provide aid to the city’s overflowing landfills, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to go ahead with the process of reclaiming the Mulund dumping ground next year. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has also approved the scientific processing of waste and the further recovery of the landfill that is spread over 24 hectares.
BMC had halted dumping the waste at the city’s second largest ground since October 1. The corporation was awaiting MPCB’s approval to begin the work of processing the waste to recover the dumping ground site. The 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of waste which was being generated every day at Mulund is currently being diverted to two other dumping sites, Deonar and Kanjurmarg.
As per the conditions put up by the MPCB, the civic body will have to submit a disaster management plan for the landfill and the areas around it, prior to the commencement of work at the site. The Mulund landfill which is able to carry 70 lakh metric tonnes of waste, has several residential societies bordering it. The move has come after the unfortunate Deonar dumping ground accident in 2016.
We received MPCB permission this week and have now asked the contractor to include a disaster management plan for the landfill,” said Vishwas Shankarwar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Solid Waste Management Department.
The BMC has appointed a consortium of Prakash Constrowell Limited, Infotech International Limited and EB Enviro Biotech Private Limited and will be the contractor to close down the Mulund dumping at a cost of ₹731 crore over a period of six years.
However, it is expected that it will take at least five years to neutralise the ground’s toxicity due to the presence of various metals including mercury and lead, at the dump site. Alongside the contractor will attempt to capture the methane trapped in waste as it can be used to generate electricity.
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