Villagers call off stir over garbage

Pathak said a monitoring committee led by MP Supriya Sule will oversee implementation of environmental norms. “We will carry out the capping process and set up a garden at the dumping site,” he said.

Pathak denied that the PMC was carrying out open dumping as alleged by villagers. “There are two lakh villagers in the area. Dumping could be from their end. We send the garbage to Hanjer biotech plant,” he said. The civic chief said the PMC would provide jobs to villagers with approval from the state government. He said the committee and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will review the steps taken by the PMC for scientific disposal of garbage.

Sule said she would monitor the steps taken by the PMC in the area as well as adherence to environmental norms. “I will hold a meeting every week to take stock,” she said.

Deputy municipal commissioner Suresh Jagtap said the capping work would be carried out on around 60 acres of land. Jagtap said the Hanjer bio-tech plant,which processes 1,000 tonne of garbage daily has been functioning without a break for the last 18 months. “We pick up 1,200 tonne of garbage daily. Sometimes,durfestivals,over 1,400 tonne of waste is generated. Around 250 tonne goes to 15 bio-gas plants and two vermicomposts,” he said.

Bhagwan Bhadale,president,Kachra Depot Hatao Samiti,said they have given six months to the PMC to fulfil their demands. “Open dumping of garbage has stopped from Sunday. Garden and tree plantation must be taken up in the right earnest. The PMC has given us in writing that it would meet all our demands. We hope they live up to it,” he said.

Jagtap said open dumping in the area had stopped from January 2010.