The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Wednesday floated a Rs 2,368-crore tender for cleaning waste piles from the Deonar landfill through biomining. The move comes ahead of the state government’s plans to relocate a section of Dharavi residents under its redevelopment project.
Almost seven months ago, in October 2024, the state government allocated a 124-acre portion of the larger 311-acre Deonar landfill for constructing housing tenements for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), a joint venture of the Maharashtra government and Adani Group. In its tender document, civic officials mentioned that they will clear 110 hectares or 271 acres of land.
“Alongside the portion that has been demarcated for the DRP, several other areas of the land parcel will also be cleared. This includes the portion of land parcel where a waste-to-energy (WTE) and a bio-CNG plants are coming up,” said a civic official.
Details furnished by the civic authorities also show that 185 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste will be removed from the land parcel. For the process, 1,200 vehicles will be deployed and 2,300 MT of waste will be cleared daily. Civic officials stated that clearing the entire landfill will take three years.
On April 11, The Indian Express reported that the government’s relocation of people to the Deonar landfill plot as part of the DRP was against established environmental norms.
According to a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, around 6,200 kg of methane is generated from the landfill every hour, making Deonar one of the top 22 methane hotspots in the country.
The CPCB rules mandate that a minimum of 500 metres should be maintained between WTE plants and residential zones. Furthermore, the CPCB rules also state that a 100-metre no-development zone needs to be maintained from the boundary of a landfill.
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The process of biomining involves treating garbage items with the help of natural elements like air and sunlight, and sometimes microorganisms are also used. Over time, the biodegradable component of the waste gets decomposed through this natural process, and the remaining non-biodegradable material.
The extracts are either recycled or treated artificially. During this process, items like rock ores or mine waste are also extracted from the waste items, and in this way, the entire land parcel is freed from the accumulated pile of waste. The Centre mandated the role of biomining under its solid waste management rules, published in 2016.
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