Frequent load-shedding hits garbage disposal in Pune

The slow disposal of garbage in the city, including its collection and processing, is being aggravated by the increase in load-shedding in Pune district by Mahadiscom. As a consequence, garbage is piling up in various parts of the city.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has resorted to a go-slow in collection of the garbage from all over the city as it cannot be processed at the Uruli garbage depot due to 5 hours of power cuts every day.

The PMC stopped open dumping of garbage in the Uruli garbage depot from June 1 last year. In fact, it is the first municipal corporation in the country to carry out 100% processing of garbage. The processing requires power.

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak admitted to DNA that the problems of garbage clearance in the city have aggravated due to load-shedding. "As the processing plant remains shut for about 5 hours due to load-shedding, the entire cycle of garbage disposal gets affected," he explained.

With a population of about 35 lakh in Pune city, the daily garbage generation is about 1,400 tonnes. The capacity of the processing plant at the Uruli depot is 1,000 tonnes per day.

There are 12 biogas projects in the city where 55 tonnes garbage is disposed of in a decentralised manner. However, the garbage depot at Uruli-Phursungi is the most important for disposal of most of the garbage.

The PMC already faces problems with garbage collection and disposal in the city. These are due to lack of sufficient manpower to drive vehicles to transport solid waste, increased generation of garbage due to festive season and a high number of its employees going on leave for the festival.

Mahadiscom has increased load-shedding hours in the state from October 1, after the Telangana agitation affected supply of coal to thermal generating stations. The problem was aggravated due to floods in Orissa, which also affected coal supply to power stations.