Sewage Scandal in Badlapur: Farmer’s Petition Exposes Collapse of Civic Planning

Mumbai: What began as a lone farmer’s fight in the Bombay High Court has turned into a damning indictment of Badlapur’s civic governance. In Writ Petition 7404 of 2024, petitioner Yashwant Anna Bhoir, an agriculturist from Sonivali village, has dragged the State of Maharashtra, the Kalyan-Badlapur Municipal Corporation (KBMC), and developer A Plus Lifespace to court — alleging that untreated sewage from a sprawling residential project, Trishul Golden Ville, is being dumped directly onto his fields.

The case has laid bare a civic disaster that extends far beyond Bhoir’s farmland.

The High Court expressed shock that KBMC had issued building permissions and occupation certificates for a complex housing over 400 families without any sewerage network in place. Instead, the developer installed a small septic tank — which predictably overflowed, spilling waste into Bhoir’s agricultural land and eventually into the Ulhas river basin.

Court-appointed experts and the Thane Collector’s fact-finding team confirmed: Septic tank capacity is woefully inadequate. Sewage is flowing untreated into farmland and water bodies. Environmental norms under the Water Act (1974) and Environment Protection Act (1986) have been brazenly violated. Badlapur town, with a population of 5 lakh, has virtually no functional sewage system.

The expert panel called Badlapur’s sanitation a “non-existent system” and warned of crop losses, contaminated water, mosquito breeding, foul odours, and disease outbreaks.

“This is not just one farmer’s problem — this is an urban planning crime,” the report observed, holding KBMC, the developer, and even the housing society liable for gross negligence.

The High Court has slammed municipal authorities for “gross abuse of environmental laws” and warned of exemplary damages against the developer and the society. Orders have been issued to file affidavits, fix accountability, and explore cancellation of occupation certificates if violations are proven.

What began as Bhoir’s plea for relief has snowballed into a city-wide sanitation scandal. The case now resembles a public-interest litigation, with the Court looking into Badlapur’s entire sewage and town planning apparatus.

For Bhoir, the fight is about saving his farmland. For Badlapur’s residents, it may well be about saving the city from an ecological and public health collapse.