Key roads on outskirts of the city littered with garbage

PUNE Piles of garbage are being reported on the slopes of Katraj ghat, Bapdev ghat, along the Aundh-Balewadi road, and along the boundary wall of Naren Hills in Kondhwa

PUNE Piles of garbage are being reported on the slopes of Katraj ghat, Bapdev ghat, along the Aundh-Balewadi road, and along the boundary wall of Naren Hills in Kondhwa.

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Ajit Deshmukh, deputy commissioner, Solid Waste Management, PMC, said, “We are collecting and disposing of garbage within the city limits. In certain villages not part of the PMC yet, garbage is the responsibility of the gram panchayat.”

“The problem is that garbage is being dumped in non- habituated areas along the highways and roads, which either belong to the PWD, forest department or to NHAI. Although these public spaces are not under the gram panchayat, they have been cleaning up the areas. Tt is difficult to catch the perpetrators who are constantly dumping garbage,” Deshmukh added.

Residents have raised this issue. “Piles of garbage are lying on the path leading to the forest ahead of Naren Hills, opposite Anandvan. Is this PMC’s idea of Swachh Pune, Sundar Pune? Literally all kinds of rubbish is being dumped here,” said a resident of Kondhwa, who asked not to be named.

National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC) member Maithily Manakwad said, “The road connecting Krishnanagar, which falls in Hadapsar ward, probably needs a camera. It will help us catch those littering.”

She added, “NSCC from the very beginning has been insisting that the responsibility of door-t-door collection lies with PMC. If the citizens get their garbage collected from their doorsteps, why would they throw it on the roadsides?”

ZP has been working on a programme launched in June 2021, where gram panchayats will be provided with ₹150 crore to set up garbage treatment plants.

For now though, key roads on the outskirts of the city are littered with garbage.