The latest fire at Deonar has been the third such incident at the largest dumping facility in Mumbai since January.
Blaming the ruling Shiv Sena and BJP for their "failure" to find an efficient way of disposing Mumbai's garbage, a delegation of Congress today demanded immediate closure of Deonar dumping ground where a fire broke recently.
Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam led the party's delegation and met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Ajoy Mehta in this regard.
"Along with dozens of corporators, MLAs and other party workers, I met Mehta and submitted a memorandum to him in which we sought stern action against those responsible for the menace and instant closure of the dumping ground, which should have been done 16 years ago," Mr Nirupam told mediapersons after the meeting.
"Entire Mumbai is turning into a gas chamber and people suffering from asthma are the worst-hit due to the dumping ground fire. Local leaders of BJP, Shiv Sena are responsible for this, he said and alleged that these two parties are playing with the lives of Mumbaikars.
"Shiv Sena and BJP have been ruling one of the richest municipal bodies of the world since last 23 years. Nevertheless, they never bothered to develop a mechanism to dispose the debris scientifically while many national and international cities have gone far ahead," Mr Nirupam said.
Meanwhile, opposition parties in BMC boycotted the civic body's standing committee meeting this morning over the Deonar fire issue after they did not find civic chief Ajoy Mehta's answers "satisfactory".
"The answers given by Mehta were not satisfactory and hence we walked out to register our protest," Praveen Chheda, Leader of Opposition, said.
The latest fire at Deonar has been the third such incident at the largest dumping facility in the city since January. The blaze has caused led to emission of toxic gases and hence serious health concerns in areas in Eastern suburb of the metropolis.