The Kharghar Citizen Forum took matters into its own hands and cleaned up a dumping site and placed potted plants after the City and Industrial Development Corporation failed to take action despite repeated complaints. Members of the forum are now taking turns to watch over the site and keep off litterbugs.
Arjun Garad, a member of the forum and resident of Rajgad Cooperative Housing Society, said, “As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the government has sent a notification that common dustbins should be removed and waste should be collected from each residence. However, in many locations in Kharghar common dustbins are still present and spread filth, dirt and foul smell. This dumping site was in a prominent place behind Pranam Hotel in Sector 12. So we decided to clean up the place by ourselves instead of fighting with CIDCO.”
No littering banner
The members of the forum said that they initially visited nearby housing societies, restaurants and chawls and told people not to dump garbage at the site. Mr. Garad said, “Whenever the garbage pick-up van did not show up on time, residents used to dispose of household wastes at this dumping site. Hawkers and restaurant owners also added to the heap of garbage by dumping waste at the site late at night. Foul smell used to emanate from the site due to the accumulation of wet garbage. Before cleaning up the area, we put up a banner for five days appealing to residents not to dump waste at the site.”
CIDCO officials helped the residents clear the garbage heaped at the site and removed the dustbins on Sunday morning. The residents hired a water tanker and washed the area clean.
Three-hour operation
Anurag Gupta, a resident of Balaji Corner CHS, said. “The clean-up operation involved the hard work of 70 members of the forum. The entire process of cleaning and bleaching the dumping site took around three hours. During the night, residents guarded the area to prevent hawkers and restaurants owners from disposing of garbage in the cover of darkness. It will be guarding the area for another week.”
More dumping sites
Mr. Gupta added that Leena Garad, the corporator of the area, helped coordinate the efforts with CIDCO. The residents also said that they have requested CIDCO to collect garbage from all housing societies in the area on a daily basis so that garbage does not end up being heaped up in public places.
The forum claimed there were 13 more dumping sites in Kharghar that are overflowing with garbage. These sites include four in Sector 12, two in Sector 3, two in Sector 4, one each in Sectors 7, 5, 10, 11 and 13.
The housing societies that participated in clean-up drive in Sector 12 included Tirupati Corner, Dyaneshwari CHS and Shree Krishna Paradise CHS.
