The Times of India 14.12.2009
Villagers set May '10 deadline for ending garbage dumping
PUNE: Strongly opposing the Pune Municipal Corporation's plan to continue dumping of garbage at the Urali garbage depot, members of the Phursungi gram panchayat set May 2010 as the deadline for completely stopping garbage dumping there.
The demands of the residents in Urali and Phursungi have come at a time when the PMC's earlier deadline to complete various development works at the villages comes to an end on December 14.
Making their stand clear on a request made by the district collectorate to allow the PMC to dump garbage till May next year, the village panchayat charged that the PMC had flouted all norms regarding waste disposal in the last nine years and carelessly dumped garbage despite severe opposition from the residents of Urali and Phursungi. The panchayat said that it has no right to take a decision on extending the time limit for the PMC to allow dumping of garbage.
In a resolution, the panchayat said that the PMC should take permission from the concerned authorities as per the solid waste management rules 2000 and submit copies of the permission to the panchayat. Large-scale dumping of garbage has already affected the environment, the panchayat added. The PMC' s attempt to start a vermi-composting plant at the site last month had caused confusion among the residents, it added.
The panchayat, in one of its important demands, has asked for complete details with maps of the scientific capping work of garbage is being done at the garbage depot. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, in May this year, had directed the PMC to complete the scientific capping work by May 2010.
In May this year, the residents of the villages had launched an agitation wherein all garbage dumpers were prevented from going to the depot. The agitation continued for 12 days which resulted in accumulation of garbage all over the city. A meeting was convened on May 14 in which various issues related to garbage disposal and development works in the villages had been chalked out.
The panchayat observed that the progress report, which was supposed to be made available every month to the residents as well as the concerned authorities including the MPCB, was not being sent at all. The panchayat, therefore, demanded that the progress of the work should be discussed with the villagers at the depot site itself. The villagers have also demanded that the leachate collection and disposal process should be completed on a war footing.
The issue of garbage disposal at Urali will come up for discussion at the PMC standing committee meeting on Tuesday as the civic administration has tabled two proposals related to the issue. One proposal pertains to taking up additional development works costing Rs 21.36 crore at Urali and Phursungi villages. The works to be taken on priority had been suggested by the district collectorate in October this year. The works include laying of water pipelines, asphaltation of internal roads, completing closed drainage works, and also implementation of local water supply scheme. Another proposal pertains to preparation of a detailed project report on integrated solid waste management plan for the city for the next twenty years.
