Villagers skip meet,garbage row persists

The deadlock over the dumping of garbage at the depot near Uruli Devachi and Phursungi villages continued on Sunday as the village representatives stayed away from a meeting convened by the District Collector to resolve the issue.

The deadlock over the dumping of garbage at the depot near Uruli Devachi and Phursungi villages continued on Sunday as the village representatives stayed away from a meeting convened by the District Collector to resolve the issue. The Pune Municipal Corporation,meanwhile,remained non-committal on lifting garbage from the overflowing bins in the city.

A meeting of PMC officials,party office-bearers and village representatives was convened to resolve the issue that has arisen after the villagers had blocked dumpers from dumping garbage at the depot, District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi said.

He said the village representatives could not make it to the meeting owing to the short notice,but have been invited again on Monday to discuss their demand. We hope to resolve the issue soon after holding discussions with the village representatives, Dalvi said and added that there was a need to find a permanent solution to the issue that has been cropping up repeatedly.

Deputy sarpanch of Phursungi village Sanjay Harpale said,We could not attend the meeting called by the collector as it was on a short notice. The meeting will again be held on Monday afternoon,but we are yet to decide whether we should attend it.

Harpale said the villagers have been suffering for long and the residents have received only assurances so far. There is no possibility of calling off the agitation unless the administration gives us an assurance in writing that time-bound efforts will be made to resolve the issue permanently, the deputy sarpanch said.

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