Around 12,000 tonnes of debris and garbage was thrown out by sea along the Marine Drive promenade in south Mumbai during the high tide last week, the Bombay High Court was told on Monday, 16 July.
"Around 12000 tonnes of debris and garbage, thrown into the promenade during the high tide last week, has been cleared from Marine Drive by municipal workers," said Shehzad Naqvi, representing the petitioner.
City-based NGO 'Citizens Circle for Social Welfare and Education' had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to authorities concerned to frame guidelines on garbage and debris disposal and its discharge into the sea.
Naqvi told the HC that authorities are ideally supposed to discharge the garbage or debris into sea at a farther distance from the coastline.
A division bench of Justices AS Oka and Riyaz Chagla noted that the petition raises important issues and an urgent hearing was required.
According to a report by DNA, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday, 16 July, cleared around 11 metric tonne of the trash that was returned by the sea on Marine Drive. The bench then posted the PIL for hearing on 30 July.
The BMC reports that in a course of a week, around 40 mt tonne of trash has been cleared from Marine Drive, of which the highest, 12 metric tonnes, was collected on Thursday, 12 July.
(With inputs from PTI and DNA)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)