Mumbai: Legal notice challenges government’s move to house Dharavi residents on dumping grounds

Advocate Sagar Devre (centre), who has been opposed to the shifting of project-affected people to Mulund. File pic

A legal notice has been served to the principal secretary of the urban development and environment departments of the state government as well as to Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani over the Maharashtra government's decision to use the Mulund and Deonar dumping grounds for the rehabilitation of Dharavi who are residents ineligible for housing in the area being developed under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

Advocate Sagar Devre, who served the notice on April 22, said that as per the solid waste management rules, landfills are fit for human habitation only 15 years after their closure. The state government has decided to allot 124 acres of Deonar dumping ground land and 12 acres of the Mulund dumping ground for the rehabilitation of Dharavi residents.

Advocate Devre, who is fighting against a rehabilitation project on salt pan in the eastern suburbs, said, "As per point 31 of the Solid Waste Management Rules, the use of closed landfill sites after fifteen years of post-closure monitoring can be considered for human settlement or otherwise only after ensuring that gaseous and leachate analysis comply with specified standards."

He added, "The rules mention that the post-closure care of landfill sites shall be conducted for at least fifteen years with a long-term monitoring or care plan. They also mandate monitoring the leachate collection system and groundwater, maintaining groundwater quality in accordance with requirements and maintaining and operating the landfill gas collection system to meet required standards."

The closure of the Mulund dumping ground in its final stages and the processing of its waste will be completed by next year. After that, the BMC can take over the dumping ground land. Spread over 24 hectares, the Mulund dumping ground came into being in 1968 and was closed in 2018. Around 66 per cent of waste processing at the site is completed.