Pune: It seems the efforts taken by Hinjawadi IT Park Residents Welfare Association opposing the rampant garbage burning in and around Hinjawadi have borne fruits with the garbage burning coming to a halt from the past two months. Incidentally, things started moving after Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) directed the Hinjawadi Gram Panchayat to install a processing plant in Hinjawadi, Although, the gram panchayat has failed to adhere to the directives owing to its incapacity to install a processing plant, it has started transporting the garbage out of the area.
Tulsiram Raykar, Gram Vikas Officer for Hinjawadi, told Sakal Times, “Daily 10 to 12 tons of wet and dry garbage is being collected by a private contractor. The contractor transports the garbage to Lonavla, where the wet garbage is processed and dry garbage goes into a landfill.”
Ravindra Sinha, a member of Hinjawadi IT Park Residents’ Welfare Association, said, “The rampant garbage burning has stopped from last two months. Two months earlier, HD Gandhe, MPCB Pune Regional Officer had visited Hinjawadi. We had told him about the problems of rampant burning taking place every alternate day. He had assured that he will take some actions against it.”
Gandhe said, “I had informed the Hinjawadi Gram Panchayat to install a processing unit at Hinjawadi itself so that a proper system of collecting the garbage daily and processing it at the same place would take place.”
“We do not have sufficient land to install a processing plant in Hinjawadi. Therefore, we had written a letter to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Zilla Parishad. Both MIDC and Zilla Parishad said that they do have any unused land with them. PMRDA said that they have less than 10 guntha of land, which is insufficient to set up a processing plant as the plant would need at least land admeasuring 30 to 35 guntha. We are still searching a solution for the issue,” Raykar said.
