An uphill task of managing waste
The delay proved deadly. Between January and March 2016, big fires erupted multiple times on the landfill and the acrid smoke filled the city’s skies sickening residents all over. Fire engines were rushed to the dumping grounds and attempts to douse these fires that lasted several days. As a result, plans for a plant — this time, it was meant to produce a whopping 25 Mega Watts of power — were revived again: tenders were floated, deadlines set were extended several times over the year, but no bids were forthcoming.
As for the earlier waste-tocompost plant, here’s what happened: four years into the contract, the BMC had not handed over the lease of the land to Tatva, and Tatva had not constructed the plant. The contract was eventually cancelled in 2015. The two are now in court over dues that Tatva alleges the BMC still owes it. the mountains and later transferred to a new landfill outside the city.
“The ill effects of haphazard or non scientific dumping of the municipal solid waste (MSW) for all these years have (had an) extremely negative impact,” on the area nearby, the project’s environmental impact assessment report said. The project would be “an upgradation of environmental, health and hygiene conditions” and will also prevent the formation of more than 8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent gases in 20 years.
Pathan’s hopes however, have dwindled. More than a year ago, his daughter Hassan Bano (32) was diagnosed with typhoid and pneumonia.
Not everyone is convinced about waste-to-power plants. Dr Arun Sawant, a former vice chancellor of Mumbai University and an environmentalist said that the waste incinerator could possibly turn the slow burn of noxious gases emanating from the slowly decaying garbage into a flood of fumes, and residents around the mountains will bear the brunt of it. Dharmesh Shah, a policy advisor with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives said that investing in such a plant would only “encourage the city to keep feeding the plant rather than reduce waste.” Indeed, cities around the world are moving away from incinerators to avoid the furans and carbon dioxide they emit. The focus has now shifted to better segregation and reduction of waste, Shah said.
Meanwhile, in Deonar, the plant might miss the municipality’s deadline of 2023, extending Pathan’s wait for “clean air”.