The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board sent eight notices to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for its unscientific handling of waste, in the two years before the fire at the Deonar dumping ground, The Indian Express reported. After the fire broke out on January 27 and engulfed Mumbai in smog for days, the MPCB issued fresh prosecution notices to the executive engineer and plant engineer. Regional Officer of MPCB Dilip Khedkar said the BMC has been given 15 days to respond to a notice issued on February 1. These question whether the municipal body complied with pollution control norms in its handling of waste at the dumping ground.

MPCB officials said BMC responded to the earlier notices with the steps they would eventually take to control the waste being dumped at Deonar. It was not being treated till before the fire on January 27. The civic body also said their contractor, United Phosphorus Limited, which they appointed in 2009, had not been able to set up a processing unit because of a lease dispute with the state government. The fire at the dumping group started a few days before the contract was scheduled to end – January 31.

The BMC had also informed the pollution control board they are setting up a processing unit in the dumping ground in Kanjurmarg, where some of the waste can directed. Municipal authorities had said they were also considering alternative sites in Taloja and Airoli where waste can be sent and processed.