BMC tells Mumbai to segregate garbage, but dumps 100 tonnes of untreated, wet waste in Deonar

Mumbai civic body has violated its own rules at a time when it is forcing housing societies to segregate waste and set up facilities to compost it

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has dumped hundreds of tonnes of wet waste at the Deonar ground over the past three months, since it intensified its drive to evict hawkers.

License department officials admitted that perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers that confiscated from hawkers eventually go waste, and are dumped untreated at Deonar. (HT File)

License department officials admitted that perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers that confiscated eventually go waste, and are dumped untreated at Deonar.

This means the civic body has violated its own rules at the time when it is forcing housing societies to segregate waste and set up facilities to compost it.

“We follow the rules and store confiscated perishable goods in the BMC godown for 24 hours. During this period, hawkers who wish to reclaim them have to pay the mandated fine. As they are unwilling to pay a hefty amount for perishable goods, which get damaged during the eviction process, most of the items get spoilt. They are then disposed of at the dumping ground,” said Nidhi Choudhary, deputy civic chief, in-charge of the anti-encroachment drive.

Siddharth Bansode, joint superintendent of the license department said 100 tonnes of perishable goods were confiscated from hawkers in August and September.

“Now, this quantity has reduced to about 50 tonnes a day,” he said. The BMC evicted 59,000 hawkers between August and October.

According to the license department, the civic body was supposed to collect fines worth Rs40 crore, based on the amount of goods collected, multiplied by the fine amount. However, it collected only Rs66 lakh, implying that hawkers did not return to collect their goods and pay up.

Illegal vendors must shell out Rs2,400 to Rs40,000, depending on the nature of the goods — perishable and non-perishable.

“Hawkers claim clothes, toys, and plastic item, but not perishable goods. We auction bananas, and tomatoes, but they mostly go to waste,” said a civic official.

Between August and October, the BMC conducted 51 auctions, collecting Rs12 lakh.