PUNE: The Deccan Chambers of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (DCCIA) has alleged that despite writing to the state government about the high-level threat posed by indiscriminate garbage dumping in the Wagholi and Ahmednagar Road areas to existing and future businesses, the state government has not taken any action against the same.
The letter was written and hand-delivered to the district collector a month ago, according to the DCCIA. The letter said that since May 2022, the DCCIA had held several meetings with various authorities for various issues related to the area on Ahmednagar Road beyond Wagholi. The letter dubbed the situation as ‘abysmal and alarming’ and ‘capable of disrupting business in the near future’.
DCCIA advisor Qaneez Sukhrani said that the DCCIA had held meetings with top officers of multiple authorities including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Zilla Parishad but in vain. “Each authority puts the onus on the other while the area – which has about 200 industries and businesses – suffers environmental degradation. These businesses are forced to be embarrassed before visitors to their plant/s,” Sukhrani said.
“It has been the DCCIA’s endeavour to work in cooperation with government authorities to achieve set targets namely traffic decongestion and a better environment. The garbage dumped on roads along the highway and near water bodies is rampant and is worsening. The situation has become worse and is an embarrassment to all Indians, especially Punekars. The DCCIA feels it is necessary for all related authorities to focus on this degradation of the environment. This dumping of garbage on the roadside also leads to traffic jams. We request you to jointly find a solution as soon as possible, before the monsoon starts and without any delay,” Sukhrani said.
In the letter, the DCCIA has demanded immediate clearance of dumped garbage, debris, dry branches and leaves at various places, especially near water bodies from Wagholi to Ranjangaon. The DCCIA has said that the garbage should not be allowed to become a mosquito breeding ground. It has further urged the government to prepare a solid waste management plan for the merged villages which is long overdue. It has demanded that a solid waste management strategy be introduced in a phase-wise manner along with a public outreach programme including segregation of wet and dry waste. It has asked for deadlines to be set for each phase along with fines and penalties for not meeting them.
