Residents turn Katraj ghat road into garbage dumping ground amid lockdown due to Covid-19

While sanitation workers and waste pickers are risking their lives daily and keeping the city clean despite the Covid-19 pandemic, residents are dumping garbage on the Katraj ghat road.

The stretch on the Pune-Satara highway has turned into garbage dumping zone since the last few days. With the country under lockdown, people are spending time at home, but residents of Katraj are dumping garbage near the road.

“Since the last one week, most of the ghat section has been stinking due to the garbage thrown on both sides of the road. I have seen people from nearby areas and Katraj throw garbage while passing through the ghat. As the ghat section doesn’t comes under the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) jurisdiction, many people go and throw their garbage there,” said Rakesh Pangare, a resident of Katraj.

When HT visited the ghat section it was found that the space was littered with not only household garbage, but also construction debris, thermocol waste, plastic materials, liquor bottles, among others.

When contacted Dnyaneshwar Molak, Pune Municipal Corporation, solid waste management department head, said, “Though the Katraj ghat section doesn’t comes under our jurisdiction, residents living in PMC limits should not throw garbage while passing the ghat section. Our PMC cleanliness workers are working round the clock to keep the city clean, and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) under whose jurisdiction the ghat section comes, have the responsibility of cleaning the garbage. They have plans to start a garbage processing plant for villages in that area which needs to be done.”