MMRDA to aid civic bodies in scientific disposal of garbage

“The disposal of waste done by these urban local bodies is against the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000 by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. So,it was decided to stop it immediately,” said M R Shah,principal advisor Solid Waste Management (SWM) Cell,MMRDA. The SWM is also planning to develop regional sites at six locations in the MMR,which will take the excess load of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the MMR.

The MMRDA decided to conduct a detailed study and chalk out a strategy for ULBs to deal with the problem of disposing of waste. It would also suggest ways to improve and upgrade the local landfill sites,study the life span of these sites and think of alternatives in case the local landfill sites are not suitable. Transporting the waste is a major issue. The MMRDA also wants to study the interlinking of local landfill sites.

More importantly,the study would “specifically” focus on clubbing adjoining ULBs where common treatment facilities are developed along with common transport plant. As of now four municipal councils — Vasai,Virar,Navghar-Mancikpur and Nalasopara — in the MMR are using the same landfill site.

The SWM cell of the MMRDA had earlier done a study to close the existing landfill sites and look for alternate sites. The study also focussed on transporting the residue and rejected material to the regional landfill sites.

Apart from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai,no other municipal corporation has a proper disposal scheme for garbage. Last week,the state forest department detained two trucks belonging to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for dumping in the marshy land that belonged to the forest department. Smaller corporations like Mira-Bhayander,Bhiwandi-Nizampur,Ulhasnagar and Kalyan-Dombivli face similar problems and need immediate attention from the MMRDA since they lack infrastructure as compared to bigger cities like Thane and Mumbai.