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State govt sows seeds of conflict by forming new council for Uruli, Phursungi
With the Eknath Shinde-helmed Maharashtra government forming a new municipal council for these villages however, the spectre of the garbage depot is very likely to return to haunt the PMC
The state government’s forming a new municipal council for Uruli Devachi and Phursungi does not augur well for the already simmering garbage depot issue. With the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) garbage depot located at Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, the PMC has had to face agitations from these villages for long now. So much so that the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis decided to merge these villages with the PMC as a permanent solution to the problem. With the Eknath Shinde-helmed Maharashtra government forming a new municipal council for these villages however, the spectre of the garbage depot is very likely to return to haunt the PMC.
Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivthare said, “The issue of the garbage depot was raised in chief minister Shinde’s meeting yesterday. Even the Pune district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil expressed concern over the garbage depot at the meeting. Patil proposed keeping the two survey numbers where the garbage depot is located with the PMC itself but Shinde had already given his nod to keeping the depot with the new municipal council.”
“The citizens of Pune and we are one. We had orally promised that there would be no garbage depot issue and we will not demand that it be shifted,” Shivthare said.
Asked about Shivthare’s reaction, some PMC officials on condition of anonymity said that the oral promise carried no meaning and that the new municipal council would use the garbage depot as a tool to harass Pune city. The state government would do well to keep it with the PMC, they opined.
Former deputy mayor and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader, Siddharth Dhende, said, “As the state government has formed a separate municipal council for these two villages, it is very clear that in future, there will be clashes over the garbage depot. The PMC should start looking for new land immediately and ask the state government to keep the garbage depot with it.”
A local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on condition of anonymity said, “They are not happy with the decision. Instead of forming a new municipal council, the state government should have formed a new municipal corporation. By forming a new municipal council, the state government has created more problems for the PMC.”
Another BJP leader also requesting anonymity said, “A new municipal council was demanded by very few people. Uruli and Phursungi are now separate towns, not villages. The population of outsiders who have settled in these places is three times more than the local people. Asked with whom they would like to stay, the answer will be PMC.”
