Premium

Before every election, voters remind candidates of garbage issue but it remains unresolved

Streets are swept, garbage trucks pass through neighbourhoods, and public spaces seem manageable.

Sumita Kale, economist and co-founder of the Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti (DGPS), the breakdown unfolded after 2020, undoing years of hard work to keep the community clean

5 min readPuneJan 7, 2026 10:40 PM IST First published on: Jan 7, 2026 at 10:40 PM IST

Written by Advaya Apte & Shreenija Dandavate

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) claims it tries hard to improve its ranking in the annual clean city contest, Swachh. But its efforts have yielded little success despite the civic body spending huge funds on managing waste. Every morning, Pune briefly looks like a city that has its waste under control. Streets are swept, garbage trucks pass through neighbourhoods, and public spaces seem manageable. By afternoon, the picture changes because trash reappears on roadsides, rivers, and market areas, raising the same question residents have been asking for years: what is the system doing?

Sumita Kale, economist and co-founder of the Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti (DGPS), the breakdown unfolded after 2020, undoing years of hard work to keep the community clean. She has seen a functioning model collapse. “For over five years, we worked with the PMC, corporators, residents, Swachh and Janwani to remove more than 30 garbage containers in Deccan, and ensure door-to-door collection of segregated waste, and encourage home composting,” she said. According to her, much of that progress was lost after the pandemic. “Segregation is no longer insisted upon. Earlier chronic spots are back. Tapris have increased, adding to unsanitary conditions. Sweepers clean in the morning, but trash keeps building up through the day.” She also pointed to the lack of enforcement. “There are no penalties for littering or not composting, and no accountability in the four-corporator model.” She along with other members of the Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Group have drawn up a citizens manifesto for their Prabhags 12 and 29 for the civic elections. This is accompanied by a poster campaign designed by well-known designer Falguni Gokhale, also a resident of the area, through which they hope to reach out to the candidates and tell them they want “systems, accountability and outcomes and not freebies, slogans or short-term appeasement”.

Students and daily commuters experience the consequences directly. Divyashree Kawatkar, a 20-year-old resident, described waste disposal across Pune as inconsistent and poorly planned. “Garbage bins are not placed at regular distances. Once waste is dumped at one spot, it slowly turns into an informal dumping ground,” she said. She singled out the Nadipatra area as particularly unhygienic, citing the smell of rotting waste and visible river pollution. “Dustbins are mostly limited to commercial areas,” she added, calling it a planning failure.

Near the MaNaPa bus stop, where the Mutha river flows, Abhirami Pillai notices a recurring problem. “A large amount of religious waste is dumped into the river such as flowers along with plastic packaging,” she said. “I have rarely seen PMC workers cleaning the area,” she added, noting that even when communities organise clean-up drives, waste quickly returns. “Without surveillance or fines, the dumping continues.”

The people who handle the city’s waste see the issue from a different angle. Pradnya Kamble, a PMC waste collection worker, spoke about the risks involved in her job. “You find everything in the garbage; dead animals, glass, rotten food,” she said. While workers face warnings and possible suspension for lapses, speaking to citizens about illegal dumping often leads to threats of complaints. “If people at least segregate waste, our work becomes much easier,” she said.

Experts argue that the burden cannot rest on individual behaviour alone. Aarti Khatu, professor of Political Science at Fergusson College, said uneven implementation is the root problem. “Waste management cannot work if segregation and recycling are left to individuals alone,” she said. According to her, waste must be managed at the housing society level, with structured links to authorised recyclers. With growing population density, she warned, the pressure on existing infrastructure is increasing and reforms must be made accordingly. Across Pune, the problem is no longer invisible. The city’s waste crisis is not merely about awareness but also about enforcement, accountability, and a system that works beyond the early morning hours.

Narhe resident Sushila Inamdar says that the open dumping of garbage by citizens lead to stray dogs and pigs increasing in the area creating fear among the public of the area. “It is not only garbage but issues related to it like stray animals on roads causing safety issues for citizens using vehicles are of big concern. The open dumping of construction waste alongside the roads is also rampant,” she said, adding that those seeking votes should first speak on their strategy for handling of waste and providing safe living in the city.