‘Urgent action needed against open waste burning cases in Pune’: Report submitted to PMC

The findings and recommendations have also been shared with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

“Even so, citizens seem unaware of the complaint mechanisms, pointing to the need for awareness about the same. An independent analysis of complaints lodged showed delay in response to waste burning complaints and other gaps in the process,” Hub members have also said in their letter to Prithiviraj B P, Additional Municipal Commissioner (General), Pune Municipal Corporation.

The report relied on two main sources of information: a ward-level citizen survey to capture the incidence of waste burning (292 citizens were surveyed across 15 wards) and a recent analysis of complaints about waste burning.

In the citizen survey, 75 per cent said that they have observed chronic burning spots in their area, and 33 per cent said they experience waste burning everyday. Another 42 per cent said they observe waste burning 1-2 times a week. In the citizen survey, 55 citizens out of 292 said that they had lodged complaints for waste burning in their ward.

In the complaints analysis, over 75 per cent of complaints were marked resolved after more than two days from the date of complaint being lodged. Surprisingly, no fine was imposed on any of the 59 complaints analysed. On checking the status of complaints from the token numbers, it was observed that often the complaints were forwarded multiple times before they reached the correct authority, wherein time was lost.

Hub member Pushkar Kulkarni said that a recent National Green Tribunal (NGT) judgment mandated PMC to put monthly reports of waste burning cases and measures taken on their website. “Even after 6 months, this has not been done. Information about mobile squads which are supposed to provide timely response to waste burning complaints, is also not readily available. It is often found that burning happens in the evenings and throughout the night at some chronic spots so there is a need for effective night time vigilance and response systems” Kulkarni said.

Vernekar said that during the survey it was found that certain wards like Hadapsar Mundhwa, Aundh Baner and Wanowrie Ramtekdi showed more cases of burning. However, an important inference was that hardly 20 per cent of residents who observed waste burning have never complained about it. “There is definitely a need to let citizens know what action they can take when burning happens, which is a punishable criminal offence to do so,” she said.

Among key recommendations, include setting up a dedicated 24×7 complaint number for waste burning, dedicated response squads for immediate action after complaints are lodged, review of the line of action of complaints lodged, to find out where the gaps exist, to speed up response and enforcement/action on waste burning cases and others.