Residents of Chembur, Vashi and other areas around the Deonar garbage dump have planned a gathering on Tuesday at Azad Maidan to protest against the municipal corporation's failure to stop fires at the dump.


"We were promised by the chief minister that another incident of fire from the Deonar landfill will not happen. But only a month later, this fire has begun choking us again,' said Priya Fonseca, resident of Chembur.

"We will be wearing black clothes and masks as a sign of protest from 10am onwards for the right to breathe clean air."


Residents living close to the dumping ground pointed out that on the third day, the smoke was carried by strong winds towards Navi Mumbai on Monday morning and there was no improvement by the evening as the blaze was seen spreading from one location to the other.


Chembur resident Vandana Tripathi said, "The air that we are breathing today is poisonous, could lead to cancer, birth deformity, tuberculosis. It is a slow poison, possibly leading to premature death."