Pay for debris disposal in Thane, says civic body

TMC’s policy includes segregating debris into different categories, with specific transportation and treatment charges for each type

After asking housing societies to treat their own waste, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has now trained its guns on generators of construction debris in the city.

Debris at Majiwada Nashik by pass.(Ht Photo)

The civic body has formulated a policy wherein the contractor responsible for generating debris (either through construction or demolition) will have to pay money to TMC for transferring and treating it at its plant in Daighar.

Those who are found dumping debris illegally on land, water bodies or mangroves will have to cough up fines between ₹5,000 to ₹20,000, apart from paying waste transfer and treatment charges.

Manish Joshi, deputy municipal commissioner said, “As per the Construction and Demolition (C &D) waste management Rule of 2016 of the central government, every city should have its own C & D waste management plant and also a policy for the same.”

Joshi added that TMC’s policy included segregating debris into different categories, with specific transportation and treatment charges for each type.

“The waste generator will have to pay ₹1,089 per metric tonne of waste as transportation charges. If they are ready to transport the waste themselves they will only have to pay ₹545 per metric tonne. In case they generate debris less than one metric tonne and are willing to transport it to Daighar, then they would not have to pay anything,” said Joshi.

The Daighar plant, which can treat 200 metric tonnes of debris per day, is set to be operational within a month. According to TMC, it can convert the waste into tiles, paver blocks and concrete blocks.

“We will provide a 20% discount in C & D waste treatment to the building contractors who are ready to buy these recycled by-products and re-use them,” said Joshi.

In Thane, out of 1,000 metric tonnes of waste that is generated on a daily basis, 200 metric tonnes is from construction and demolition debris alone.

The policy formulated by TMC to manage this waste would potentially add 50 points to the corporation when a Swachh Bharat Survey comes up.

“The corporation will have to pay ₹1,050 per metric tonne for any kind of construction waste, while those who generate between 200 to 300 metric tonnes a month will need a no-objection certificate from the solid waste department.”

Earlier, following a Bombay high court order to shut down the dumping ground in Diva, TMC sent notices to housing societies to manage and treat their own waste. This move, however, received much criticism from many residents, some of whom took to protesting against the civic body.