India's financial capital is generating more construction and demolition waste than the household waste generated in a month. The massive redevelopment activity that is contributing to the demolition waste has forced the BMC to start a digital dashboard cum portal where all developers and infrastructure companies will have to give details of how they plan to dispose of the construction and demolition waste generated during their activity.
According to BMC officials, Mumbai is generating 8000 tonnes of construction waste per day. This number was just over 1000 tonnes five years ago. As compared to 8000 tonnes of construction waste, the daily solid waste generation is just 7000 tonnes. The BMC feels that construction waste is a serious matter that needs intervention.
Over the last two to three years, the construction activity and infrastructure-related work have been growing rapidly in Mumbai. There are about 2000 buildings undergoing redevelopment in the city. At the same time, MHADA and SRA are also building housing colonies. The central government has formulated separate rules for the disposal of debris generated during construction and demolition work.
At present, there are two facilities- at Dahisar and Kalyan - to dispose of debris generated during construction and demolition. The capacity of these two facilities is just 600 tonnes per day.
Many, however, dump debris outside Mumbai in areas with mangroves. This kind of disposal is hugely damaging the mangrove forests, leading to flooding of the city during the rainy season.
The BMC plans to install a tracking and monitoring system in all vehicles transporting the debris. The capacity of existing debris disposal plants is also being increased to 1,500 tonnes per day. There is a plan to construct another treatment plant at Deonar. Private players will also be encouraged to start similar plants. Every illegal dumping of debris or having vehicles without a tracking and monitoring system will be fined Rs 25,000.