Breathe Easy

Says Dr Sandeep Rane of the SARF: quot;In 1990, Deonar was a burning issue. The fumes from the ground would form a cloud over the societies in Pestom Sagar, Govandi and Garodia Nagar.quot; H N Daruwalla, a resident of Shanti Sorento, a society which lies on the highway across Deonar, says: quot;The fumes had made breathing almost impossible. Now there has been a tremendous drop in pollution which has been made possible only because of day-to-day regulation by residents.quot;

A chastened BMC put into motion Operation Damage Control: it appointed watchmen to prevent burning of garbage by ragpickers, installed lights, pressed fire-tenders into service, set up a nursery in the ground8230; and, as a long-term measure, took the esoteric solid waste management8217; term to heart. It has invited private participation for waste disposal projects from three companies: Excel Industries Limited, Global Waste Conversion Industries Limited and Integrated Biological Farming Company Limited. quot;The dumping ground should be a landfill or disposal site, which means that the garbage should be disposed the scientific way,quot; concedes M R Shah, Chief Engineer, Solid Waste Management. quot;The litigation put pressure on it to perform and not neglect the issue,quot; he adds. The BMC has also appointed R B Anderson firm to carry out a study on garbage disposal. quot;Today8217;s waste is tomorrow8217;s raw material,quot; remarks Shah. All efforts are convening at Deonar, as, pointed out R P Chittravanshi, deputy chief engineermechanical and technical: quot;Where8217;s the land to relocate the dump? It8217;s uneconomical for the BMC to shift it elsewhere. The idea is to improve on the existing garbage disposal site and put it to maximum use.quot;

The pollution seems to have receded. Now the issue is the livelihood of many a ragpicker here. The 4,000 to 5,000-odd ragpickers, many of whom have clocked an average 10-15 years at the dump, say the new environmental measures have caused a slump in their earnings. As Deonar witnesses changes thought of as impossible, those who earn their living out of the trash stand on the periphery of its grand agenda of change.

quot;Business is down,quot; rues Ratna Nilmale. She, like the rest of the ragpickers living around the dump, has been scrounging the trash for almost 15 years. Now, she says, ragpicking seems tantamount to committing a crime. quot;The watchmen snatch our tools and turn us over to the police. And at the station, we have to pay fines, all of which eats into our meagre income.quot;Local activists say ragpickers have borne the brunt of a suddenly vigilant BMC. The changed scenario permits the BMC to arrest them if they are caught8217; burning trash. Apnayala project coordinator Siraj Momin said: quot;The ragpickers, branded as polluters, are unnecessarily being targeted.quot;

Sampatrao Akale, part mason part ragpicker adds: quot;Why should we cause fires? And even if we did, there was a reason; we would find even silver and gold in the ashes.quot;

Informs Shah: quot;The BMC is committed to see change, for which a joint coordination committee has been formed with the residents8217; association. But this committee, point out Apnalaya workers, excludes one of the most important parties to the issue: the ragpickers. quot;We have demanded that the civic body include the ragpickers. For them it8217;s a question of their livelihood,quot; says Momin.

A silent fear is that private participation may usher in the danger that the unregistered ragpickers will be erased out or, worse, eat into their business by eating into their turf. The BMC also has plans for a project to dispose off 50 per cent of the 5,000 tonnes within the next 18 months. quot;We can8217;t eliminate the ragpickers from the scheme of things. They will be taken into confidence,quot; assures Shah.

The assurance may seem a typical bureaucratic response to the ragpickers. At an Apnayala-organised interface with Chittravanshi, they had poured out their grouses, particularly against the watchmen and pinpointed them as prime hurdles to their work. At the meeting, Chittravanshi promised a solution. As Deonar cleans up, it remains to be seen whether the new measures will touch the lives of the thousands who seem to be as much of a fixture at the dump as the garbage heaps.

Pointers

A road that is initially free of garbage at its approach gradually begins to house garbage piles as it reaches the end. Residents of 10 buildings situated at the end of Road No 10, Sindhi Immigrants Co-operative Housing Society, say that while the BMC safai karamcharis make a clean sweep of the approach roads, they stop short of entering the lane. Consequence? Ugly piles of trash greet the residents just as they step outside their houses.

And rains make matters worse, adds P L Chhabria, as the garbage piles attract more than their fair share of mosquitoes. quot;What we can8217;t understand is that why this particular stretch of the road is being neglected. After all, this land also belongs to the BMC,quot; complains Moloy Roy.

While the building compounds are swept clean by privately hired sweepers, informed residents, the roads are to be cleaned by civic staff. But entreaties to sweepers have fallen on deaf ears, they add. quot;If we can strive to keep our houses and building compounds clean, then why can8217;t the civic body clean up the road for us?quot; asks Chhabria.

quot;Ordinarily,quot; says Prakash Thorat, ward officer, M west, quot;BMC sweepers are supposed to move into private spaces as well.quot; He assured necessary action.

Road No 10 has some other peculiarities as well. Water is a scarce and precious resource here: it flows out of taps only between 4.30 and 8.30 pm. quot;The supply should have been augmented as the population of the area increased,quot; says B N Basu, a resident of Sindhi Society for four decades now. Also, according to him, small rain showers cause big puddles as the drains are not cleared properly. The location of the buildings at the end of the road also ensures that during the rains the compounds swell with water. Looks like the residents are up against yet another dead-end.