Poor sewage system killing sea, says MPCB

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court, blaming the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for not following the mandatory provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act to have proper network for collection of sewage and its adequate treatment and disposal at the designated place. It has also blamed the BMC for not taking effective steps to comply with said Act. According to the petitioner, the BMC is discharging sewage almost on the shore and not at the stipulated distance from it, which should be 3.7 km away from the shore. 

Regional officer Madhukar Lad, on behalf of the Board filed affidavit in reply to the PIL filed by a city-based NGO Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education (CCSWE) complaining about the negligence of BMC for discharging untreated sewage at the coast line of Mumbai and for not laying down proper drainage system, because of which the slum dwellers and the small industrial units are discharging sewage waste into the said river. 

Advocate Shehzad Naqvi on behalf of NGO’s president Arshad Ali has contended the pollution of the coastal water is hampering the entire eco-system.

While hearing the PIL, the court had directed the MPCB to file an affidavit in reply and in its affidavit the Board has stated that unorganised industrial sectors discharge their industrial effluent either into the drainage system of the corporation or directly into the nearby nallahs without treating the same, which ultimately meets the creek or the sea. 

It is mentioned in the affidavit that last monitoring results shows that the status of the coastal water at Malabar Hill and Shivaji Park have improved whereas the location at Worli Sea Face, Haji, Ali, Gateway of India and Charni Road Chowpatty are found to have deteriorated. 

The locations at Mahim Bay, Juhu Beach and Nariman Point have not shown any significant change.