Mumbai: Mumbai will soon get a new dumping ground in the new year, all of 30 acres, located in the distant suburb of Ambarnath. This will however, take at least three months, as the Maharashtra government has been asked by the Bombay High Court to hand over a 30-acre land parcel in Ambarnath to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), by January 31.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Mahesh Sonak also sought to know from the BMC the status of the closure of the dumping ground at Deonar, Govandi. This comes after the government, through its counsel, informed the bench of the land it had identified to house the city’s newest dumping ground. The plot is located in Karavle village, Ambarnath.
“The government must, within a period of three months, hand over the land to the BMC by completing all the formalities, so that it can be used as a dumping ground,” Justice Oka said. “Also, we want to know the status of shutting down the existing dumping grounds in Mumbai. By when the BMC will shut down the dumping grounds in Deonar and Mulund, must be spelt on an affidavit,” Justice Oka added.
The bench accordingly posted the matter for compliance in December first week, when the BMC will submit a status on the closure of the dumping grounds at Deonar and Mulund. In 2016, the division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka had directed the civic body to shut down these dumping sites because of the non-compliance of the civic body and the government in setting up waste management plants on the dumping sites.
The judges had then observed the authorities had miserably failed at the disposal and management of solid waste in the city. The judges had also held that the dumping sites posed a serious threat to the environment.
