Citizens see red as garbage piles up again in city

PUNE: With garbage once again piling up at places where the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had put an end to dumping and garbage containers overflowing elsewhere in the city, Punekars are frustrated with the poor garbage management in the city and are blaming the civic administration for the sorry state of affairs.

Harshada Mali from Hadapsar said, “Garbage management is very poor. Nowadays, garbage is lying on the roads. On one hand, citizens are supposed to segregate wet and dry waste during door-to-door collection whereas on the other hand, the garbage is reappearing on the roads.”

Satish Umrankar from Sahakarnagar said, “Over the last few years, the PMC has concentrated on the cleaning of the Ambil Odha. However, many citizens are throwing garbage in the Ambil Odha and the PMC is not taking action against such citizens. If we try to stop these persons from dumping garbage, they turn around and argue with us.”

Anil Vaidya from Padmavati said, “Many citizens come from Dhankawadi and other areas on bikes and throw garbage in front of the Padmavati temple.”

Shailaja Kamat from Bibwewadi said, “The Navratri festival begins on Thursday. At least during the festival, the PMC must ensure that there is no garbage lying around on the roads.”

Malhar Joshi said, “Earlier, we used to file complaints but we have given up on that nowadays. Everywhere, there are hawkers and encroachments. Even slumdwellers are building multi-storeyed structures. How do they get permission for such things? There are commercial shops too in the slums…”

PMC solid waste management department head, Sandip Kadam, acknowledged the problem saying, “It is true that some citizens are throwing garbage in nullahs etc. We will increase vigilance and take action against such people. On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2, the PMC is undertaking a deep clean drive in all parts of the city. All departments are involved and the entire city will be cleaned.”