Although summer is yet to set in, city's largest landfill site at Deonar has experienced its first fire incident of this summer on Thursday. This is just the beginning, fire episodes at the garbage yard may become frequent in the days to come as the days get warmer.
Yet, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to finalize the scientific closure and waste treatment project of Deonar dumping ground.
Fire incidents are common at the dumping ground every summer due to rise in temperature. A major fire broke out in February 2015, which was doused after 10 days of fire-fighting operations. Scientific closure of the landfill will put an end to such incidents permanently. Looks like it is only a pipe dream.
Like every year, the project was delayed this year. The bidders who had come forward for the project had asked for some more time to evaluate calorific value (CV) of the waste in the Deonar dumping ground. A CV is the quantity of energy in fuel or food. Now, the civic body has extended the bidding deadline till March-end.
"It is a first of its kind project in the country. So companies have to be sure before starting the project," said an officer from the Solid Waste Management department.
For the last three years, BMC had been making provision of more than Rs. 100 crore for energy plant at Deonar dumping, but in vain.
