As much as 1,600 metric tons of unexploded ordnance was disposed of by the Southern Command of the Indian Army to help civilian authorities in Mumbai and several other locations, a defence release said on Thursday.

In Mumbai alone, over 800 tons of Unidentified Explosive Objects (UXO) with explosive content of over two thousand kg of RDX/ TNT was disposed of.

Operation `Visphotak Mukt Bandargah' was undertaken by the Army on the direction of the Defence Ministry to ensure the safety of people living in these areas, the release said.

The ordnance had "possibly been collected inadvertently by some factories and steel scrap yards" over the past few years at multiple locations in Mumbai, Gujarat, Kanpur, Jaipur and Jodhpur, the release said.

A special Bomb Disposal Team from the Central Ammunition Depot, Pulgaon carried out "survey, segregation and disposal" of unexploded ordnance.

In a similar operation in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu in March 2021, the Southern Command had safely disposed of unexploded ordnance, the release informed.