With no let-up in the thick smoke emanating from the raging fire at the Deonar dumping ground, most of parts of north-eastern Mumbai continued to reel under heavy smog for the third consecutive day on Saturday, prompting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to shut down as many as 74 primary schools in the affected areas.
Though the BMC officials said here on Saturday evening that the fire had been brought under control, they said “the smoke is spreading due to moderate wind”.
As per the live data put out on the web site of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, on Saturday night, the air quality around Chembur – in the vicinity of which the Deonar dumping ground is located had deteriorated markedly. While the coarser particle like PM 10 (ugm-3) in the air stood at 275 (poor), the PM 2.5 (ugm3) particle was 401 (severe).
Talking to The Pioneer earlier in the evening, Scientist and Project Director at the SAFAR Dr Gurfan Beig said that the air quality, which normally varied from “moderate to poor” during winter in Mumbai, had deteriorated noticeably since Thursday evening.
“The air quality recorded at Chembur has worsened from being moderate to very poor during the last 48 hours. The concentration of thicker particle like PM10 has increased in the air,” Dr Beig said.
The only attributable factor to the deteriorated air quality and consequent smog in Chembur area is the thick smoke emanating from the nearby dumping ground,” Dr Beig said.
Expressing similar views, Dr Rakesh Kumar, Scientist and head of the Mumbai Zonal lab, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Dr Rakesh Kumar told this newspaper: “ Unlike in Delhi where is both fog and smoke, there is no fog as such in Mumbai. But, the smoke coming from continuing fire in the nearby garbage dump has eroded the quality of air. The smoke that is coming out from the dumping ground is toxic. The smog – arising out of mainly because of spreading smoke – has reduced the visibility. It will take some more before the fire is doused and smoke coming from the garbage is reined in”.
The images taken by NASA’s satellites from January 27 to 29 and exclusively shared with NDTV clearly showed how a plume of smoke from the fire at the Deonar dumping ground, had not only covered the entire Island city but has spread deeper into the Arabian Sea and has also affected the coastal areas of Maharashtra in Raigad district.
The television channel quoted Dr Ritesh Gautam, Assistant Professor at the Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, as saying: “The images were taken at 1:30 pm on all three days and it clearly shows how on January 27 the skies are clear. Then on January 28 the fire starts and the smoke has blanketed much of Mumbai. And by the next day it has spread further into the sea”.
Meanwhile, like in the previous two days, the visibility levels in north-eastern suburbs like Chembur, Deonar Tilak Nagar, Pestom Sagar, Shivaji Nagar, Mankhurd and Baiganwadi went down markedly, as these areas came under thick clouds toxic clouds. So much so that most people in the area closed their flat doors and windows. People also complained about breathing problems.
Taking serious cognizance of the continued fire and resultant smog, the BMC shut down as many as 74 primary schools in M-ward – the ones run by it and those to which it grants aid, as a precautionary measure on Friday and Saturday.
“The BMC put out a circular, directing the schools to close down for two days. While some schools closed without waiting for such a direction from the BMC, the others complied with the directive. Tomorrow is a holiday. The BMC will take a call reopening the school on Monday, if the situation improves,” Corporator Rais Kasam Shaikh said.
In a related development, a strong contingent of fire brigade officials – comprising 21 officers of MFB along with 132 fire fighters and personnel battled with the blaze for the third consecutive day. The fire had broken out at the Deonar dumping ground on Thursday. Though the fire brigade had brought the blaze under control in the early hours of Friday, the fire spread another 2 km area owing to a breeze.
“Though the fire is under control, but the smoke is spreading due to moderate wind,” a BMC spokesperson said.
“To control the fire MFB has deployed 14 fire tenders, 2 mini water tenders (water mist), 8 water tankers, 3 ambulances, breathing apparatus van and other necessary equipment,” the civic spokesperson said.
While deputy Municipal Commissioner Prakash Patil and BMC’s Chief Fire Officer are personally supervising the extinguishing operations, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta is monitoring the situation on hour-to-hour basis.
Having taken serious cognizance of the situation, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the BMC Commissioner to expedite the fire dousing operation.
Earlier in the day, city NCP leader Sachin Ahir hit out at the Maharashtra government for its failure to douse the fire at the Deonar dumping ground. “The state government should first solve dumping ground issue and then only then think of. “Make In India” in Mumbai. First “Make Mumbai” then “Make In India”. We will protest at BKC ground and show all foreign investor the fumes and smoke of dumping Ground. let whole world also see what Shivsena-BJP govt had done so many years in BMC,” he said.
