Garbage pile-up behind BKC school cleared a week after HT report

It took the civic body six days to clear over 700 tonnes of construction debris, which had accumulated on the vacant plot for over two years

Mumbai: A week after HT reported about a garbage pile gathering next to the posh Ascend International School in Bandra-Kurla Complex, the sanitation and solid waste management departments of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cleared the plot.

Construction debris and garbage being cleared near Ascend International School at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

It took the civic body six days to clear over 700 tonnes of construction debris, which had accumulated on the vacant plot for over two years. “Nearly 40 garbage trucks were used to move the debris,” said an official from the H-East ward of BMC.

Posters have now been put up around the plot, warning the owner of the land and others against dumping waste on the ground.

“Once the case was brought to our notice, we immediately levied a fine on the plot owner and the maintenance and solid waste management departments of the civic body started clearing the land,” said an officer from the ward.

Parents and students of the school were up in arms against the civic body as well as the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for some months, demanding the growing pile of garbage next to the school campus be cleared.

The ground, which lies between the campus in BKC-F block and the Mithi River, stayed vacant and abandoned for many years. However, it started collecting garbage only in the last two years of lockdown, said school officials.

Repeated attempts to reach out to the school authorities for comments remained in vain.

Since school reopened in June, parents and school authorities had approached local civic officials, collectors and the MMRDA, but to no avail. In two years, the pile of garbage had started towering over the school compound wall. Many parents complained about their children falling ill frequently due to the unhygienic conditions around the school campus.