Mumbai : The BMC will increase the waste processing capacity and bio-gas production from the city’s waste to 100 per cent in the upcoming year. For this purpose, the civic body has approached the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) for clearance of 52 hectares of the 141 hectare land at the Kanjurmarg waste processing unit that falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area. This land is currently not being used.
A BMC official said land falling under the CRZ area can be used for this purpose after special permission is obtained from the MCZMA. In the presentation that the BMC made to MCZMA last week, the civic body asked for permission to fence in the area of Kanjurmarg and use the CRZ land. The decision has still not been finalised.
The official said that there is an urgent need to fence in the Kanjurmarg waste processing unit area to prevent shanties from propping up there. He said, “Once this happens, it becomes very difficult to reclaim the land. We will build a concrete wall instead of a wired fence, for extra protection.”
Additional Municipal Commissioner Pallavi Darade said, “Our aim in the near future is to eliminate the mere dumping of waste totally and replace it with processing waste. Currently 38 per cent of the waste generated in the city is processed.”
She informed that presently round 9,500 metric tonnes of waste is generated in Mumbai every day. Of this, the BMC segregates over 1,200 metric tonnes of waste. Sixteen metric tonnes is processed as medical waste and 15 metric tonnes is processed as green waste.
