The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has installed an artificial intelligence-powered camera at a garbage-vulnerable spot in Mahim on a pilot basis, as the civic body attempts to curb open dumping across Mumbai’s 286 identified problem locations.
The camera detects when a person is attempting to dump waste and triggers an audio warning through a connected loudspeaker. A senior official from the BMC’s Solid Waste Management department told PTI that the civic body will first assess the system’s effectiveness before considering its installation at other locations in the city.
The pilot is the first of its kind for the BMC. The civic body has appealed to residents not to dump waste on roads, open spaces and other public places. However, the AI-powered system does not automatically generate a challan or fine memo when it detects an offence.
According to the official, civic employees must be deployed at the location to take action against offenders. This means the camera can identify and warn against dumping, but enforcement still depends on staff being present and acting at the site.
The BMC has identified 286 garbage-vulnerable spots across Mumbai. R-South ward, covering Kandivali, Charkop and parts of Malad, has the highest number, with 28 locations. M-East ward, which includes Govandi and Deonar, M-West ward, covering Chembur and areas around Mahim Creek, and G-North ward, covering Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi, have 23 locations each.
P-North ward, which includes Malad and Malvani, has 22 garbage-vulnerable spots. The distribution places the largest reported concentration in the city’s western suburbs, while several eastern and central locations also have multiple sites requiring monitoring.
The BMC has previously used conventional CCTV cameras to monitor dumping. It installed cameras at 130 locations, after which more than 100 dumping spots were eliminated, according to the civic body. F-North ward, covering Sion, Matunga and Wadala, has the highest number of these CCTV cameras, with 11 installations.
The new Mahim installation therefore adds automated detection and an immediate audio warning to the monitoring process. It does not, however, replace the need for municipal personnel at the spot when enforcement action is required.
The BMC’s next step is to evaluate the pilot before deciding whether AI-powered cameras should be installed at additional garbage-vulnerable locations across Mumbai.
