Less than three months after making tall claims by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) that it had accelerated the work of scientifically disposing of the huge volume of unprocessed garbage that had accumulated at the uphill dumping yard in Dhavgi village near Uttan, the process has come to a grinding halt due to non-payment of dues to the concerned contractor.
Apart from an adverse impact on the environment owing to its faulty geographical location, the mountain of garbage has not only become the reason for unbearable stench and health hazard, but the leachate liquid sliding down the hillside from the garbage yard is contaminating farmlands, allege villagers. Sensing the seriousness, local municipal corporator- Sharmila Bagaji raised the matter, following which legislator- Geeta Jain and MBMC chief- Dilip Dhole visited the yard and issued necessary directions to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Nearly 13.50 lakh cubic meters of unprocessed waste had piled up outside the plant. Following an uproar by villagers, the judiciary intervened and directed the MBMC to get rid of the garbage. The MBMC woke up from its slumber and adopted the bio-mining process which envisages an efficient zero-emission mechanism. The government gave its nod to begin bio-mining on 2 lakh cubic meter of garbage. To date the MBMC has managed to dispose of just 1.40 lakh cubic meter.
However, payments amounting to Rs. 6 Crore remain pending, prompting the contractor to abruptly stop further work, sources said. “We will soon table a report in context to scientific disposal under the aegis of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and are confident of getting funds for the purpose. Meanwhile, efforts were made to make some payments from the civic kitty. However the contractor has been directed not to halt work,” said a senior MBMC officer. Notably, the MBMC will need around Rs. 70 core to clear the garbage hills and bring the land to its original form.
