PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Monday said it will start clearing the city's accumulated garbage from Tuesday as the fire at the Phursungi Uruli garbage depot is under control and the villagers have withdrawn their agitation.

"The city generates around 1,400 metric tonnes of waste every day. In the first few days of villagers' agitation, we stocked the city's waste at the garbage ramp in Hadapsar. Since then, we have not been able to clear garbage in the city. Around 2,500 metric tonnes of waste is currently accumulated which we will start clearing from Tuesday," said Suresh Jagtap, head of the PMC's solid waste management department, adding that the city will be waste-free in a day or two.

Residents of the village will allow garbage-carrying vehicles to enter the depot on Tuesday morning. After a fire broke out at the garbage depot on April 7, residents had prevented the civic body's vehicles from entering the area.

Bhagwan Bhadale, president of Kachara Depot Hatav Sangharsh Samiti at Phursungi Uruli, said, "Around 99% of the fire at the depot is under control. Our agitation will come to an end on Tuesday morning. The PMC's vehicles carrying waste can resume their work from 7am onwards."

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak, the officials involved in municipal solid waste management and representatives from Phursungi Uruli attended a meeting under the leadership of MP Supriya Sule at the PMC. The garbage depot falls under Sule's constituency.

"A slew of important decisions have been taken during the meeting. We will inspect how civic authorities translate the decision into reality. If they fail, we will reinitiate our agitation and block vehicles carrying waste to the garbage depot at Phursungi-Uruli," said Dilip Mehta, president of environment conservation committee at Phursungi gram panchayat.

At the meeting, it was decided that only segregated dry waste would be brought to the garbage depot for processing from August 1. "Sule has asked the villagers to take videos of the type of waste being brought to the depot from August 1," Bhadale said.

Relocation of the carcass utilization plant at the Phursungi Uruli garbage depot was also agreed upon. It will be closed from June 1.The civic body has been outsourcing the work to a private firm at the union government-funded plant since its inception in 2002. Animal carcasses are supposed to get scientifically disposed of here.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed at the garbage processing plant to ensure that the rejected waste is not set on fire in order to get rid of it.

In addition to this, the villagers, who lost 40 acres of land due to fire, would be given financial compensation from the state government. "Sule promised that she would personally look into it and take up the issue with the chief minister," Bhadale said.

Relatives of project-affected villagers will be provided permanent jobs. The civic body has sent a proposal to the state government regarding the same.