Civic body seeks police probe into fire at garbage depot

 Even as the ongoing fire at the Uruli Devachi and Phursungi garbage depot continues to wreak havoc, the Pune municipal administration has written an application to the Loni Kalbhor police station to initiate a probe into the garbage fire to find out its cause. The PMC has deployed nine fire engines and seven water tankers to douse the fire.

“Following the fire incident, we approached the Loni Kalbhor police and made an application for a probe into the fire so that the exact reason for the fire could be ascertained,” Deputy commissioner of PMC (Solid waste management) Suresh Jagtap told reporters on Wednesday.

About the development works carried out by the civic body in these villages, Jagtap said, “In the first phase, we have been able to complete works to the tune of Rs 9.5 crore, while in the second phase, we have completed Rs 5.5 crore of works. In the third phase, we have been able to carry out Rs 9 crore of works out of the Rs 22 crore allocated for this. So in all, we have spent Rs 24 crore in the twin villages including roads, water supply, construction of a primary health centre, crematorium, among other things.”

The PMC had started these development works from 2009, as a form of compensation for utilising the land in these villages to dump the garbage.

Meanwhile, the agitation by villagers is still on and the garbage has started overflowing garbage bins on Wednesday. However, the civic administration dispatched around 1,100 tonnes of garbage to the composting plant in Hadapsar, and some portion to the farmers.

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, who was scheduled to pay a visit to the garbage depot on Wednesday morning, will now meet the villagers on Thursday.