Get dump ground land fast:Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has chided the state for its lethargic approach tow-ards providing a plot to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for use as a dumping ground as the civic body is illegally using the Deonar dumping ground to deposit untreated garbage. The BMC started using the ground at Deonar, where a solid waste management plant is located to dump untreated waste after the Kanjurmarg dump was closed earlier in 2017. 

The HC further berated the state for not communicating with the Centre to take possession of the salt pan land at Mulund, even though it had been demarcated as a dumping ground in the 1991 development plan. The Court directed the state to hold meetings with all concerned departments to take possession of the salt pan land and hand it over to the BMC in the best interests of the health of Mumbaikars.

A division bench of Justices A.S. Oka and P. N. Deshmukh, while hearing submissions from the state regarding the provision of a parcel of land to BMC to use as dumping ground, told the court that the 250-300 acre of land at Mulund, which was partly in possession of the central government and partly with the state, was identified for use as a dumping ground. As the BMC had refused to use the Karavle land at Taloja since it was a strip and would be insufficient.

“We will be holding a meeting of all relevant departments within two weeks as well as the salt pan commissioner and seek transfer of the land to the state,” said special public prosecutor Abhinandan Vagyani. 

The court said it was shocked and surprised at the laid back attitude of the state towards addressing the problems of disposing waste. “We are surprised that the state has not shown any urgency in providing land to the BMC to dispose off the 11,500 metric tonnes of garbage generated in the city per day. The state has to take note of the gravity of the situation and communicate with the union as soon as possible and get the transfer affected at the earliest,” said the bench.