The unbearable stench from untreated prawn waste at Sassoon Dock has been creating havoc in Colaba. Several residents have developed breathing problems while students of nearby schools have stopped attending classes, prompting the Colaba Residents’ Association to file a PIL in the Bombay high court last week against the Mumbai Port Authority(MbPA) and demanding speedy remedial measures.
While Sassoon Dock has always had a certain fishy odour, the problem has been exacerbated by the shelling of prawns on the roadside, and the sale of seafood on roads meant for traffic. The waste from the prawns is transported to the suburbs at the end of the day in open trucks, and the stench from the trucks as they pass through the bylanes of Colaba up to Cuffe Parade is so strong that residents claim they are unable to breathe.
“They have these ice trucks which are refrigerated and have a hole at the base,” said Sabrina F, a senior citizen who lives four buildings away from Sassoon Dock. “The waste water drips on the roads and the stink travels on the breeze all around Colaba Post Office and Wodehouse Road up to Cuffe Parade.” The smell lasts till the wee hours of the morning, and the condition of many asthmatic patients reportedly worsens at this time.
Sabrina said that in the past Sassoon Dock was an ordinary dock where boats used to come, offload the fish and go. “But over the years, it has grown into an illegal dock,” she said. “Now prawns, the big export item, are cleaned and shells dumped in the open. There is an incinerator for destroying shells but it is not being used. There are people who actually sell the shells.”
“The fish market has fresh fish and that is not an issue,” she continued. “The smell we get is a rotten one, which is prawns that have been cleaned at 4 am whose shells are thrown in the gutter and block sewage lines.”
Sabrina pointed out that there were schools in the vicinity. “We can shut our windows and switch on the AC to escape the stink somewhat but the kids who go to these schools have no choice but to bear it,” she said. “Many have started bunking school.”
Another resident who lives bang opposite Sassoon Dock said on condition of anonymity (due to the fear of the fish mafia), “I have been staying here for the last 50 years, and things have gone from bad to worse. The fact of the matter is that they have started loading and unloading fish on the road instead of doing that in the docks. This is leading to slush on the roads and causing bikers to have accidents. The prawn-shelling, which was being done inside the dock in warehouses, is being done on the roads.”
Incidentally, much to the residents’ surprise, all hygiene norms were abided by during an art festival held at Sassoon Dock recently.
Renu Kapoor from the Colaba Residents’ Association, who filed the PIL on behalf of Colaba and Cuffe Parade residents, said that while the common man was bound by municipal bylaws to segregate and compost waste, the MbPA, which has the luxury of a huge land bank, was refusing to treat its waste internally.
Rajiv Jalota, chairman, MbPA, when contacted, said that the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Kochi had been roped in to recommend the best technology for processing of waste and measures for overcoming the foul odour. “There will be a new tender on processing of prawn shells based on the CIFT’s recommendations,” he said. “The best thing to ensure is that shelling is done in a scientific manner, where the shells are refrigerated if not processed.”
CIFT intends to improve the shelling activity at Sassoon Dock by creating awareness amongst all stakeholders. The CIFT report is expected by the end of August. Based on its recommendations, MbPA will take further steps to improve the waste management at Sassoon Dock.