Taking a cue from another division bench of the Bombay High Court, HC on Monday put a stay on all new construction proposals in the city because the State government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had not complied with the solid waste management rules.
In April 2015, a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice V L Achliya had directed the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) not to sanction the land marked for a dumping ground for any commercial or residential plan.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice C V Bhadang put a ban on all “new constructions” except hospitals and educational institutes. The court said redevelopment projects which would consume existing floor space index have been allowed putting restrictions on proposals from tomorrow. The court said no fresh applications on fresh construction of residential or commercial building will be proceeded from tomorrow.
The bench said that the BMC secretary will appoint a deputy secretary as head of the monitoring committee for Deonar. The committee will comprise of retired assistant commissioner of BMC and intervenor.
The BMC said 50 hectares would be required even after Kanjurmarg, Taloja and Airoli are operational, to process around 14,000 MT of waste per day.
“We have been given an additional 52 hectares in Kanjurmarg. Once we get clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change, it will take six months to start the plant. Thereafter, we can close down Mulund. It will take another three years to start a waste-to-energy plant in Deonar,” said S U Kamdar, the senior counsel appearing for BMC.
On an average, 9,000 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in Mumbai on a daily basis. The court, after going through the affidavits filed by the state and the corporation, noted that there is absolutely no possibility of compliance of solid waste management rules by the year 2019 to scientifically treat garbage, which by then could have gone up to 15,000 metric tonnes a day, due to the ongoing construction activities in the city.
The court also suggested the State that it would have to modify development control rules to allow the setting up of plants at the ward level for the disposal of bio-degradable waste.
The civic body was to comply with the waste management rules, which were formulated in the year 2000, by December 2013. But while the scientific treatment of waste is carried out only at the Kanjurmarg dumping ground, the other two dumping sites don't have this facility.
