Taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his failure to ensure effective implementation of “Swachchh Bharat” Abhiyan, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday charged that both Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis lacked a strategy to deal with the worsened situation at the Deonar dumping ground in north-east Mumbai.
Talking to media persons after visiting the Deonar dumping ground where there have been frequent fires and which has contributed markedly to pollution in the metropolis, Rahul said: “The PM or the CM should take some action in dealing with this dumping ground. They should either close down this dumping ground or come up with some strategy to deal with the situation here. Talking about Swachchh Bharat is one thing. Implementation of the (Swachchh Bharat) mission is another thing. Unfortunately what I am seeing here there is absolutely no strategy”.
“The Prime Minister about Swachchh Bharat”. His own BJP-Sena alliance Government is ruling the state. The Sena-BJP alliance is at the helm of affairs at the local municipal corporation. Owing to the happenings at this dumping ground, the people have suffered considerably in recent weeks. There is pollution here. Children are suffering from TB here. One child even died,” Rahul said, as he called for some immediate action from the Prime Minister or Fadnavis to deal with the situation at the Deonar dumping ground.
There have been two major fires at the Deonar dumping ground since early this year – once in January and second time in third week of March. On both occasions, air quality in several parts of Mumbai had dropped to “poor’ and “very poor” levels owing to the smoke emanating from a massive fire at Deonar dumping ground and the people living in north-eastern suburbs of the metropolis complained of breathlessness and extreme discomfort.