37 million litres of sewage flowing into Thane Creek daily as STP shuts down

Mumbai: Environmentalists are up in arms as 37 million litres of untreated sewage water has been flowing directly into the Thane Creek daily for the past few days with the closure of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) run by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

Following complaints from NatConnect Foundation, NMMC's City Engineer Sanjay Desai has confirmed the shutting down of the STP intermittently and said the civic body is making all-out efforts to have the plant resume operations, according to a press statement by NatConnect Foundation.

NatConnect Director B N Kumar has now taken up the issue with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who also holds the Urban Development Department.

The STP work has been badly hit due to a dispute over the land for which Kanha Patil claimed ownership. The plot is at Sector-15, Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai and the node has been witnessing rapid growth.

Patil claimed that CIDCO had not given him the compensation for the land and hence he forced its closure.

Desai said NMMC tried to run the plant with police help but the obstruction continued.

NMMC has even requested CIDCO to intervene and sort out the dispute with Patil.

Kumar pointed out that the flow of untreated sewage water into the creek poses major threats to marine life and biodiversity.

The toxic sewage pollutants flow into water bodies and impact marine life as well the lives of the people who consume fish and crabs caught from this water, he said.

Kumar requested CM Shinde to quickly settle the dispute to protect the environment.

Local resident N Mhatre said the situation has been appalling and no authority worth its name has bothered to have the STP resume its functioning.

Kumar, a long time resident of Navi Mumbai, pointed out that Ghansoli has emerged as one of the prime realty destinations. In a CIDCO floated tender in June last year, a plot fetched over Rs 3 lakh a sq mtr at Ghansoli.

“It is shocking to say the least that CIDCO has not bothered to sort out the STP issue while planning massive commercial and residential complexes in the area,” he said.

For the uninitiated, though NMMC was formed in 1995, CIDCO continues to hold sway over open plots in Navi Mumbai.