Residents of Bandra, Khar, and Santacruz West in Mumbai are experiencing problems with open garbage dumping in their areas. Tamal Bandyopadhyay, a Bandra resident, has reported the issue of waste dumped on an open plot near the local junction by tweeting to the BMC. He fears that it will cause mosquito breeding during the monsoon season. Meanwhile, Deyasini Choudhury, a member of the Khar-Santacruz Civic Group, observed that there used to be community bins for waste dumping, but now NGOs collect garbage. However, the timings for pick-up are not fixed which forces slum dwellers and chawl residents to dump their trash in undesignated places. Madhu Poplai, secretary of the Pali Hill Residents’ Association, stated that hawker-generated garbage is a major concern that local BM officials often support with a hafta (bribe). Several residents from various parts of Bandra recounted their experiences with garbage dumping in their vicinity to the Hindustan Times. They urged the authorities to resolve the issue permanently.
The assistant engineer of the solid waste management department and assistant commissioner of H West Ward were both contacted for comment and photo-sharing. However, they did not respond. Most unfortunate of all is the fact that local NGOs tasked with enforcing daily rubbish collection are failing to do their jobs. As a result, a recent Bring back community dustbins’ campaign was started by locals. This move was to call attention yet again to the garbage dumping issue which continues without any real, effective solution from BMC.
