Garbage disposal in the city was affected for the second consecutive day on Thursday. The villagers of Uruli and Phursungi blocked the entry of garbage vans and continued their agitation to protest against the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) failure to keep its promise.
Most of the about 1,400 tonne of garbage generated in the city every day is taken to the Uruli garbage depot for disposal.
PMC has stopped open dumping of garbage in the depot about one and a half years ago and has started processing it. The villagers have started their agitation as garbage has again been dumped in the depot. They allege that the civic administration had failed its promise to develop alternative sites and undertake development works in the depot.
On Thursday, Pune mayor Mohansingh Rajpal and municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak visited the depot and requested villagers to withdraw the agitation. However, the deadlock continues, said Dilip Mehta, one of the agitators.
Meanwhile, a PMC source said that the civic body has spent Rs42 crore for development works to benefit residents located around the depot. The civic administration has also proposed to spend Rs126 crore on development works, including capping of garbage.
The heap of garbage on the vast area would be converted into a garden after the completion of the Rs80-crore capping project.
The PMC standing committee has already approved a tender for the plan.
A civic official said that crores of rupees have been spent in the last four years on development works around the depot. The civic body has provided Rs88 lakh for constructing a water tank for these villages. On Thursday, the standing committee approved a proposal to provide Rs1.66 crore for a pipeline for water purification plant for these villages.
The PMC spends Rs80 lakh every year to provide water by 65 tankers to these villages every day as underground water is polluted.
It also spends Rs50 lakh annually towards daily fumigation of these villages, besides providing employment to many its residents.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Anil Shirole said the PMC should undertake a project on a war footing to dispose garbage in the city. He said that the civic body has failed to solve the issue of garbage disposal.
