The Times of India        19.11.2010

Garbage mess makes city look inwards

PUNE: No village in the city's outskirts wants the city's garbage. So the writing is on the wall. Pune will have to take care of its own garbage and the new Development Plan (DP) for the city will have to reserve plots across the city for setting up garbage processing units.

"All efforts by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the district collector to acquire land in villages around Pune to set up garbage processing plants have failed. Villagers are not ready to give their land for garbage. There is no other option than to set up processing units within the city's limits. Citizens have to co-operate with the civic body," said PMC's solid waste management head Suresh Jagatp.

The new DP for the city will have reservations across the city to set up garbage processing units. "As of now, the city generates about 1,300-1,400 tonne garbage daily. As the PMC has stopped open dumping of garbage, about 1,000 tonne garbage is processed at Hanjer biotech company plant at Urali, while other garbage is taken care of by biogas, mechanical compost and vermi-compost units in the city. However, garbage generation will rise and the city has to think of new processing units," Jagtap said.

On June 1, the civic body claimed that it has completely stopped open dumping of garbage as per its promise to the villagers of Urali Devachi. The villagers had been protesting against open dumping of waste and were assured by the PMC that it would cease from June 1, 2010. The PMC had then asked the state government to help it acquire land for starting garbage processing units in nearby villages.

The district collectorate had identified plots at Mouje Vadhu Khurd and Mouje Tulapur in Haveli taluka to set up garbage processing units. The state government finalised two government-owned plots, admeasuring 25 hectares each in both villages to set up the garbage processing plants.

The PMC was ready to pay Rs 2.63 crore for land acquisition. However, after an intense agitation by villagers, district guardian minister Ajit Pawar had to announce that the civic body will not set up the plants there.

Sanjay Nandre of Enprotech Solutions that runs the bitmethanation plant at Hadapsar said, "People don't want garbage processing plants in their backyard. But garbage should be processed somewhere."

There are protests in the outskirts of the city. Recently, the Hadapsar plant was stoned by locals who complained the garbage was making them suffer. "We have tried to set up processing plans as far as possible from populated areas. But Pune does not have open spaces," said Jagtap.

Former mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale, who along with a local self-help group, runs a vermicompost unit at Hadapsar said, "People have to take responsibility for their own garbage. Societies should manage their garbage and help the civic body process the garbage. There is land scarcity in the city and developers are constructing near garbage processing units so people will complain about the stink."