Bombay has acquired a new weapon to combat the increasingly putrid stench emanating from two of the city’s biggest rubbish dumps — 42,000 litres of deodorant.

Sanil Supreme, a sweet-smelling herbal spray, will be squirted each day in an attempt to neutralise the increasingly offensive odour of the massive Deonar and Mulund landfill sites after a decree from Ahmad Karim, the head of the city’s solid waste management division. He hopes that this fresh tactic will deliver some much-needed olfactory relief for the 400,000 people who live around the two tips.

The Deonar dump alone covers more than 120 hectares (297 acres) and locals have filed a petition with the High Court complaining that the stink has become intolerable. The dump, one of India’s largest, was first used by the British in 1927. A growing mountain of untreated garbage has festered there since.

“The foul smell at the two sites is unbearable,” Mr Karim said. The city council was also growing increasingly concerned about the risk of disease. “We were fumigating with ordinary chemical but Sanil Supreme will help to reduce the smell while controlling the breeding of pathogens,” he said.

Sandeep Rane, leader of the residents’ group, dismissed the deodorant plan as cosmetic.

The council has spent about £75,000 on the deodorant – a huge sum in a city where many survive on less than 50p a day and about half the population lives in slums. “Only the richest civic body in the country can afford this. Or perhaps the most fanciful,” the Mumbai Mirror said.

Mr Karim is optimistic. He has bought enough deodorant to last for six months. “If the results are positive, the order will be increased,” he said.

Experts say that India’s commercial capital is ill-equipped to deal with the 7,500 tonnes of rubbish that its 18 million people produce every day. It still relies largely on low-caste scavengers and ragpickers to recycle its detritus.

There are plans to retire both the Deonar and Mulund dumps in the next few years and reclaim the land for commercial and residential use. But their memory may linger on. The Malad dump, on which 1,000 tonnes of waste was deposited daily for 30 years, was closed in 2002 and redeveloped as Mindspace – office blocks for high-tech companies The waste was never treated and activists say that it is now giving off toxic fumes. Priti Shankar, a worker at Mindspace, said: “There’s definitely something in the air when you come outside, especially when it’s hot and wet. In fact, the place stinks.”

Breathe easy

Skunk odour White wine vinegar will neutralise the stench – described as like a cross between rotting food and burnt rubber — designed to repel predators

Garbage A three-hour soak for your kitchen bin in a mixture of bleach and water will take away the familiar pungent smell of methane given off by food waste decomposing

Rotten eggs A sprinkling of baking soda will remove the stench that can linger for days. Human beings have evolved to find the smell particularly disgusting — a deterrent from ingesting harmful bacteria

Dead mouse Hanging bags of charcoal might mask the smell of a decaying rodent, trapped under a floorboard or dumped in an overlooked corner by a proud pet

Dog breath Owners should brush dogs’ teeth regularly to maintain healthy teeth and gums. Canine-friendly mints can act as a stopgap if the rot has already set in

Source: Times archives

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