PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) intends to turn the Uruli Devachi-Phursungi garbage depot into a tourist spot and raise awareness among locals and other government bodies.
The civic body has undertaken several beautification works here and developed an urban forest of 16,000 fully-grown trees on the open ground.
Kunal Khemnar, PMC additional commissioner, along with PMC officials visited the garbage depot on Friday and reviewed ongoing works.
On March 31, Maharashtra government issued a notification for the demerger of Uruli Devachi and Phursungi villages from PMC while announcing a separate municipal council for them.
Khemnar said, “As per the orders by courts, National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the civic body has stopped garbage dumping here. We have installed a methane gas extraction system at the depot to avoid fire incidents.”
After closing the garbage depot at Kothrud, PMC started the garbage depot at Uruli-Phursungi in 1989. The garbage depot is spread over 163 acres of land. Several people living in the nearby areas had complained about health hazards due to the depot. Even the underground water quality degraded in surrounding areas.