The issue of illegal bhattis, on account of which Chandivali residents have been facing serious pollution issues, has been a long-pending one. BMC officials, however, said that the factories on Khairani Road preceded the residential complexes by two decades, and they thus took action only against the illegal ones
Mumbai: On Thursday, the BMC, protected by a posse of policemen, demolished various illegally operating furnaces on Khairani Road, Saki Naka. More than 25 labourers, ward officials and around 25 police officials demolished 13 bhattis and disconnected 18 water connections.
The issue of illegal bhattis, on account of which Chandivali residents have been facing serious pollution issues, has been a long-pending one. BMC officials, however, said that the factories on Khairani Road preceded the residential complexes by two decades, and they thus took action only against the illegal ones.
“The Khairani Road belt has had small-scale industries for a very long time,” said Harshad Kale, deputy municipal commissioner. “The residential complexes came up some 20 years ago in the Nahar Amrit Shakti area, and there were multiple complaints of air pollution thereafter. After receiving the complaints, we inspected the area and surveyed the industries.”
Kale explained that those industries that were functioning without licenses and permits from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board were given one month’s notice to regulate their operations. “Despite the notice, many factories did not regularise their industries, so we issued another notice giving them 15 days to comply,” he said.
The BMC said that action was taken against the industries that did not comply. In April, the civic body demolished three chimneys which were causing air pollution. HT was the first to report on illegal units creating pollution hell for Chandivali residents in January this year.
Dhanaji Herlekar, assistant commissioner, L ward said, “This is a densely populated area, hence we had to take police protection to act on the illegal furnaces. We will continue to take action in future as well with the police’s help.”
Members of the Swachh Chandivali Association, who have been raising the issue with local leaders and BMC authorities, appreciated the civic body’s action.
Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder member of the Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association (CCWA), said, “Residents of Khairani Road and Nahar have been suffering from allergies and other health ailments caused by these illegal bhattis for years now. We have been taking up this issue regularly and reporting on it through X (Twitter) to CPCB and MPCB. The BMC and CPCB have ordered MPCB several times to act on it.”
Makkar added that while they appreciated the BMC’s move, every single time the bhattis came back within a day of a demolition drive. “Much stricter action is thus required,” he said. “The BMC commissioner had announced the formation of a ward-wise air pollution task force, which has to take suo motu action and not wait for our complaints. What happened to that?”
Source : Hindustan Times
