MPCB suggests recommendations to improve Hadapsar waste processing plant

After the joint committee inspection conducted in February by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the board recently gave seven recommendations to the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) to improve the efficiency of the waste processing plant in Hadapsar.

The recommendation affidavit was submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on March 21.

The western bench of NGT, in January this year, ordered a joint committee inspection for the Hadapsar waste processing unit owned by PCB. The order comes with reference to the suo motu case registered by the tribunal based on the news report published in Hindustan Times in April 2024.

The report titled ‘Hadapsar resident demand action against open garbage burning’ has highlighted the issue of waste dumping and burning in public places and how it has affected the citizens in the area.

In this case, the PCB had earlier submitted a response saying that the local body is running a waste processing facility in Hadapsar to manage the waste issue in its jurisdiction. To verify the claims made by the PCB, the tribunal ordered a joint committee inspection by officials of PMC and MPCB. The five members of the committee include an MPCB sub-regional officer, a field officer and three engineers from PMC. The three officials representing PCB were also present at the time of the inspection.

The committee, after visiting the facility, has submitted a report in which it recommended PCB to complete pending sanitary land fill work and also enhance fire safety at the unit.

Apart from this, Kartikey Langote, the sub-regional officer from MPCB also submitted recommendations in its reply to the affidavit to MPCB.

The recommendations are made to enhance the efficiency of the waste processing unit. The officer recommended that CCTV cameras should be installed at the various locations at the site to monitor unauthorized entry or access to the site and also to monitor any fire incident. He also recommended providing firefighting equipment and installation of a masonry tank with full water at the site. The approach road to the site should be kept free of any obstruction or dumping and a fogger system at the site and a few other recommendations were also made by the officer.

While the waste processing unit is said to be operational and functioning well, as per the official claim, open waste dumping remains a major issue in many areas and the citizens are time and again raising concern over the same.

Swati Sharma, a resident of Magarpatta, said, “The waste dumping in open places and garbage burning still continues in many areas. While the official claims that the issue has been managed well, and waste has been picked up regularly in reality the problem has not been resolved.”

Despite a repeated attempt on call and message Subrat Pal,CEO, PCB remained unavailable for comment.