The local unit of the Congress party has dropped a bombshell by alleging that the water works department attached to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) was releasing untreated sewage directly into the natural water body in Bhayandar (east).
In his complaint to the civic administration, district Congress president Pramod Samant has stated that despite spending crores on the underground drainage project and annual maintenance, untreated waste was being released from Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).
“While most of the STPs are partly or non-operational, the one located at Jesal Park is a classic example of how the ruling governance and administration were playing with the emotions of the people. Sewage from this particular STP is released into a creek where most of the idols of gods and goddesses are immersed. Public money is being siphoned off under the garb of operations and maintenance cost,” alleged Samant.
Refuting the charges, city engineer Suresh Vakode said, “8 out of the ten STPs in the new project are currently in operation, but occasional technical glitches are bound to hit the mechanised setup. But stand-by facilities are in place for certain apparatus. However, the Jesal Park STP has been in existence since 1985. We have planned to lay a pipeline to connect this old STP with the new one. We are expecting a nod from the mangrove cell for the work soon. Officials from the pollution control board frequently conduct checks of the STPs and their emissions.”
Designed on a completely decentralised system across ten zones, the contract was awarded to a private agency in 2009. The scope of the project includes underground sewerage facilities in a radius of 24 sq km area entailing a network of 107 km of sewer lines and commission of ten pumping stations, supported by an equal number of sewage treatment plants.
