Deonar dump now a ‘prohibited area’

To stop intrusion of outsiders, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally decided to declare Deonar dumping ground a ‘prohibited area’ like BMC’s water dams and water purification complexes. The civic body will deny entry to outsiders at the dumpsite.

“To prevent fires at the Deonar dumping ground, we need to prevent the entry of outside people. The garbage dumped at Deonar contains several costly items like iron, copper, rubber etc and rag pickers throng the place to collect it. But, henceforth no one will be allowed to enter the dumping ground. We will take necessary measures for this,” said municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta.

Civic officials have suspected sabotage behind the fire at Deonar dumping ground, which kept on raging for the last couple of days. The BMC has filed an FIR at the Shivaji Nagar police station about the Deonar fire.

According to civic officials, the fire started from the creek side at around 10 am on Sunday and was brought under control at 4 am on Monday. Forty firemen and 85 employees of the BMC solid waste management (SWM) department worked tirelessly to extinguish the fire. However, dark smoke is still emanating from some of the places and cooling operations are on to contain it.

The civic chief also announced additional measures to prevent fires at the Deonar dump. In addition to 12 close circuit television (CCTV) cameras, 40 night vision cameras will be installed at the dumping ground. The BMC has also decided to dig bore wells at 2-3 places at the dump.

“Whenever a fire takes places, it takes too much time to fetch water from nearby areas for fire control. Traffic snarls are also an issue. Hence, we have decided to dig bore wells at the dumping ground. Plus, 10 fire engines will also be deployed permanently at the dump,” said Mr Mehta.

However, Congress leader Pravin Chheda has slammed the BMC for failing to take adequate measures to prevent fires. “The municipal commissioner might have announced Deonar dump as a prohibited area, but all dumpsites in the city are prohibited areas. That the BMC could not implement it speaks about its failure,” said Mr Chheda.