Garbage piles up in Panvel as Cidco refuses to clear it

Cidco abruptly stopped the collection of garbage from March 28.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has objected to the state government’s order on formation of a three-member committee to transfer basic civic services and amenities from Cidco to Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Consequently, Cidco has stopped the collection of garbage in the nodal areas of Panvel. (HT File/Representational Image)

Consequently, it has stopped the collection of garbage in the nodal areas of Panvel.

Until PCMC came into being on October 1, 2016, Cidco was the planning authority for nodal areas of Panvel. Cidco has since then repeatedly set deadlines for PCMC to take over various civic responsibilities, which the civic body has refused, citing financial and manpower constraints.

In a major relief to residents of nodal areas of PCMC, the state government, on March 22, had asked Cidco to continue to provide services in the nodal areas for now. It had ordered the formation of a three-member committee to look into the issue of transfer of services from Cidco to PCMC.

The order has helped resolve the deadlock over the garbage collection responsibility. Cidco, which had given the final deadline of March 15 for PCMC to take up the responsibility, had stopped garbage collection from March 21. Uncollected garbage had begun to pile up in several areas of PCMC. Following the order, Cidco had resumed the collection work from the evening of March 22.

A formal notification on the order was also issued by the urban development department on March 23 giving a three month deadline to the committee to submit a roadmap for the transfer of services.

Cidco, however, abruptly stopped the collection of garbage from March 28, a day after Cidco vice chairman and managing director Bhushan Gagrani met UD principal secretary Manisha Mhaiskar.

“Gagrani told the government that Cidco had not been taken into confidence before the order was issued,” said a Cidco official, on condition of anonymity.

“He also said that Cidco had long undertaken the garbage collection duty and given enough time to PCMC to take up the responsibility with several deadlines being extended. As the local planning authority, garbage collection is the civic body’s responsibility and they should take it up,” added the official.

A day after Gagrani made his position clear; Cidco stopped collection of garbage from the PCMC nodes. This has resulted in heaps of garbage piling up in various nodes of the city including Kharghar, Kamothe, New Panvel, Kalamboli and Taloja.

“The government has given very clear instructions to Cidco on the issue. It is binding on it to follow the orders,” said the PCMC deputy municipal commissioner Sandhya Bawankhule.

She said, “If Cidco does not pick up garbage from the nodes, it will amount to contempt of the government ruling. It is responsible for the prevailing situation.”

Senior public relations officer of Cidco, Mohan Ninawe said, “PCMC had asked for the deadline to be extended till March 15 for transfer of services, which Cidco had accepted. Even after that we continued to provide the service. With PCMC not collecting garbage despite repeated extensions, Cidco has stopped the garbage collection work.”