MUMBAI: From uncollected garbage to a saturated dumping ground, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is facing a tough time managing solid waste generated by the city and the root of all woes seems to be the delay in the scientific closure of the Deonar yard.

The inordinate time taken to construct the boundary wall of the dumpyard and to repair the access road— both are part of the scientific closure of the Deonar ground plan—had led to a long queue of garbage vehicles outside the compound, alleged corporators. They claimed with the vans stranded at the yard for most part of the day or breaking down on the stretch, they cannot make enough rounds of the city and consequently, cannot collect all the garbage piling up.

Samajwadi Party group leader and corporator from the area Rais Shaikh told TOI, "The boundary wall of the dumping ground is taking ages to be completed; in fact, it has been over two years since the work began. The access road to the ground, too, is in a mess and the garbage-collection vans often get stuck there." The BMC also admitted that even the slightest rainfall made the access road sludgy. "Often vehicles entering the dumping ground break down on the road, which is in a terrible condition," said a senior BMC official. Incidentally, the stretch has remained in the same pathetic condition for several years now. "The little rainfall that we have received so far has been good enough to make the condition of the access road worse," said Yogesh Sharma, a Deonar resident.

Civic officials conceded that with the vans getting stranded, they cannot collecet all the garbage that keeps piling up. "The condition of the dumpyard does prevent the vans from making the required number of trips," said an official. Shaikh said, "The BMC must expedite the closure. Only that can solve the problem."