The Bombay High Court has questioned the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s claim of progress on Mumbai’s waste-management and cleanliness problems, warning that well-maintained areas in South Mumbai cannot represent the condition of the entire city.
A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale made the observations while hearing a petition filed by residents of Kannamwar Nagar concerning the Kanjurmarg waste-management facility and its impact on nearby residents. The court said cleanliness in areas such as Worli, South Mumbai and Nariman Point did not mean that Mumbai as a whole was clean.
“Everywhere there is filth… Only because Worli is clean or South Mumbai is clean, or Nariman Point is clean, that doesn’t mean entire Mumbai is clean,” the bench said orally.
The court also questioned the work of BMC ward officers in addressing sanitation and hygiene problems in public places, including hill slopes, pavements and streets. It said it did not find “very high progress” in efforts to establish and address the city’s problem areas.
The judges referred to a heap of plastic near a municipal school in Jogeshwari. Justice Kulkarni said the site could have been cleaned within a day and questioned how such conditions could be accepted as representative of Mumbai. Residents of Vikhroli and environmental organisation Vanashakti have separately raised concerns about garbage being dumped along roadsides and in water bodies.
The High Court directed the BMC to file a comprehensive affidavit detailing the steps taken by ward officers to establish the “correct position” on the ground. The affidavit is also required to cover measures undertaken on Gandhi Jayanti as part of the Swachhata Abhiyan. The bench warned that ward officers could be summoned to court to explain the situation.
The hearing also examined the Kanjurmarg facility, where residents have raised concerns about its effects on the health of people living nearby. BMC senior advocate Anil Sakhare told the court that the situation had improved. In an affidavit filed on Wednesday, the civic body said it had held a meeting in August to discuss the facility, compliance with earlier court directions and monitoring arrangements.
The BMC said a committee was monitoring odour and other forms of pollution at Kanjurmarg, with the details recorded in the meeting minutes. It also said it had acted on several earlier issues identified by the court, including shifting a compactor away from a heritage site and relocating the reporting point for garbage vehicles near the City Civil Court and a heritage building.
On ward-level collection, the civic body said it had submitted a structure for garbage collection. It also said it had identified garbage-vulnerable points, prepared an action plan for illegal dumping, installed closed-circuit television cameras and taken action against people found littering or dumping waste illegally. Fines were imposed under BMC bye-laws, according to the affidavit.
The civic body further cited public-awareness measures on responsible waste disposal, including an appeal by the municipal commissioner to elected representatives to sensitise residents. The High Court’s next scrutiny will focus on the BMC’s comprehensive account of ward-level conditions and the measures taken to address sanitation problems across Mumbai.
