PMC staff work overtime to clear garbage as villagers end stir

PMC assures steps to address Phursungi, Uruli Devachi depot mess

The two-day agitation by villagers of Phursungi and Uruli Devachi was called off on Thursday after Pune municipal corporation (PMC) assured them of taking immediate steps to address the issue.

With garbage across the city left unattended for two days owing to the protest launched by villagers of Phursungi and Uruli Devachi, the civic staff will have to do a double shift, even work at night, to collect the garbage and shift it to the depot. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

Meanwhile, the civic staff will have to do double shift, even work at night, to collect the garbage that was left unattended after the villagers had launched the agitation since one and a half days. With the agitations called off, the PMC has started sending trucks again to the depot.

Agitations by Phursungi villagers had forced the PMC to stop sending their garbage trucks to dump the load at Phursungi and Uruli Devachi garbage yard on Wednesday.

Rajendra Nimbalkar, PMC additional commissioner, visited the Phursungi village on Thursday and after hearing the residents’ grievances, he assured them about PMC’s initiative and the agitations were called off. However, during the stir, the PMC did not collect garbage from various places in the city.

“Normally we collect 800 metric tonnes of garbage from the city and it takes around 70-80 trips by trucks to the garbage depots. However, as the trucks were stopped as a safety measure, we now have to work during night to clear the remaining garbage and mostly on Thursday night, extra trips of trucks will be made,” said Suresh Jagtap, PMC deputy commissioner.

The villagers had staged protest because no civic facilities are being provided and PMC solid waste management department failed to process the wet garbage.

“We had planned to take a firm stance against the civic body and planning to protest through agitation from August 2. But, we are currently having discussion with the PMC and decided to wait. Phursungi villagers were in no mood to listen and they stage an agitation. However, the villagers of Uruli Devachi had little role in that,” said Bhagwan Bhadale, a local resident and president of Kachara depot Hatav Sangharsh Samiti.

The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) Pune bench has slapped a show cause notice to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for not addressing the Uruli Devachi and Phursungi garbage issue.