Five days after fire broke at Deonar dumping ground, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday sought help from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to control the situation.
While angry residents staged protest by forming human chain and demanded a stop on dumping garbage at Deonar, the solid waste management (SWM) department and Mumbai fire brigade are finding it difficult to tackle frequently erupting fire due to huge amount of methane and other gases accumulated under the garbage.
Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta visited Deonar dumping ground along with additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy municipal commissioner Prakash Patil and officials from other related departments. Dr Rakesh Kumar, director of NEERI, was also requested to be present at the site.
Kumar advised fire brigade officials to use magnesium chloride powder to counter fire. Mehta asked the M–East ward to provide 100kg of magnesium chloride powder to the fire brigade.
"While the fire is under control, there are few pockets where smoke is continuously emitting. Officer of SWM department and the firemen are struggling to bring these spots under control. I have asked the department to take enough precautionary measures so that such incidents don't happen in the future," said Mehta.
The SWM department has been asked to beef up security and increase the number of security guards. Currently, there are 36 security guards which will be increased to 103. Moreover, there will be restricted movement in the dumping ground. Security officer at the dumping site has been asked to keep constant contact with the police regularly.
Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC and the local corporator, along with residents of Govandi had staged protest by forming human chain on Goregoan-Mulund Link Road. The residents demanded that the BMC should stop dumping garbage in Deonar and threatened to increase the intensity of the protest if their demands are not met.
Firemen and SWM changed strategy to tackle fire
The firemen and SWM officials could not take the fire engines to the exact spots due to lack of roads. While municipal commissioner has asked the roads department to make a temporary road by putting debris for now so that fire engines can go, SWM department has started using JCB machines to make way for firemen to spray water directly on the fire. However, for future, the department has been asked to make a proper road where vehicles can be brought.
Sena corporator arranges medical Camp
Sena corporator Siraj Shaikh arranged a medical camp for the residents of the area. More than 120 patients visited the camp and were given treatment and necessary medicines. Govandi, Shivajinagar and Baiganwadi are few of the areas which are in close proximity of the Deonar dumping ground. These areas have maximum number of tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis and respiratory disease patients.
