The city’s garbage crisis is fast becoming a political flashpoint. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its alleged apathy in resolving Pune’s garbage woes. The NCP has also targeted the BJP’s failure in bringing relief to the residents of the villages of Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, which are being used as dumping grounds for the city’s waste.
NCP MP Supriya Sule, who visited the villages on Wednesday, called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay attention to the residents who are being forced to live in insanitary conditions and compelled to breathe toxic air emanating from the surging mounds of untreated waste.
The residents have been opposing the use of their villages by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for dumping the city’s urban waste, estimated at a staggering daily average of 1700 tonnes. Ms. Sule said, “We had earlier requested Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to shift the dumping grounds to another site. But it appears Mr. Fadnavis has no intention of keeping the promises he has been making over the past two years.”
Ms. Sule later participated in an agitation by residents to make the two villages, used as dumping zones for nearly three decades, garbage-free. She posted pictures of the agitation to her Twitter account. She also criticised Pune’s politicians and authorities for going on foreign tours and expressed hope that Mr. Modi would intervene in the matter.
She said, “At a time when the country is swamped by the BJP’s propaganda of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, it is unfortunate that Pune, with its aspiration to be a metro, should wallow in garbage. I hope the Prime Minister takes note of the crisis.”
‘Find alternative site’
On Tuesday, PMC Commissioner Kunal Kumar’s visit to address the concerns of villagers failed as they stuck to their demand of the PMC finding an alternative disposal dump.
A fresh garbage crisis sparked in mid-April after a fire at a garbage depot in Uruli Devachi led villagers to protest against the PMC’s use of villages as dumping grounds. Moreover, the city’s key decision-makers are abroad: Guardian Minister Girish Bapat is in Australia while newly-elected Pune mayor Mukta Tilak is touring Mexico.
