Out of 719 ALMs in Mumbai, only 30 have composting plants

Mumbai: A majority of the advance locality management (ALM) groups in the city have been unable to carry out waste segregation and disposal in their areas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to cancel registration of such ALMs by October 16 for their failure.

According to civic officials, more than 7000 buildings in the city are affiliated with 719 ALMs, which are registered with the BMC. However, ALMs at only 30 places have been found carrying out waste segregation and composting projects in their areas. The civic body has received a lot of complaints from people about ALMs not being active in their areas.

Of the 30 places, R-North ward (Dahisar) has the highest number of places (nine) with waste segregation and composting plants. The H-West (Bandra, Khar west) and M-East (Mankhurd, Govandi) wards have six and five plants. The K-East (Andheri, Jogeshwari east) has three units, whereas G-South (Lower Parel, Worli) and R-Central (Borivali) have two units each. A, H-East and T wards have one unit each.

“If an ALM is found to be not taking interest in the waste segregation and composting programme, they will be deregistered and steps will be taken to appoint a new ALM,” said a senior civic official.

The ALMs are the citizen groups, which work in their concerned areas to create awareness about civic issues. According to civic officials, there are 719 ALMs registered with the BMC. The ALM concept was promoted by the BMC in November 1997 to associate citizens for cleanliness related issues. One of the prerequisite for formation of the ALM was segregation of garbage at source.

In view of SWM rules 2016, Environment Impact Assessment Notification and IOD conditions post year 2007, prerequisite qualification for ALM shall also include processing/composting of wet waste at source. “The role of ALMs will be reviewed by assistant commissioners (wards). They have been asked to submit their reports by October 16,” said the official.