Garbage at Mira Road raises a stink

Mira Road: Elections are over, and so is the clearance of garbage. Residents of Mira Road and Bhayander are increasingly worried about the piling up of waste since the past 80 days. The Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is still to find an alternate arrangement to dump daily waste.
    The MBMC’s solid waste
management plant at Dongri in Bhayander (West) has been unable to receive waste ever since residents of Utan and Dongri went on a protest against the stink emanating from the site since September 13.
    The attempt to transport garbage to the dumping plant had led to massive protests and lathi charge.
    Earlier, at least, the garbage was being picked up from the society and taken away. Since the past eight days, garbage has been lying around all over the place, said Shakuntala Majumdar, resident of Jangid Complex in Mira Road.
    Residents feared that the accumulation of garbage would lead to health problems. “We are worried about diseases like dengue and malaria. Garbage is lying around and people are simply walking through them,’’ said a Shanti Nagar resident Shashank Mhatre.
    MBMC generates 350 tonne of waste daily, which used to be transported to the Utan plant for recycling.
    The plant that came up in 2007 is run by a private agency, Hanger Biotech. Villagers residing close to the plant have been seeking its closure. The plant, located on the Dhavgi hill, say residents, is causing damage to their fields and water. It is also leading to several health problems, they alleged.
    During the protest, MBMC was temporarily dumping garbage on its open plots in the region. The dumping site was also a key election issue during the assembly elections, with most candidates promising shifting of the dumping ground.
    Civic officials said that they were unable to find an alternate site for dumping the garbage.