“We will file criminal offences against people responsible for this dumping. Monitoring will be intensified,” said Avinash Sakpal, head of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s solid waste management department. PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said, “The administration is drafting a policy for better management of debris. A standard operating procedure will be formed.” PMC is planning to set up 10 centres across civic areas. They will be guarded and secured with dedicated manpower so that citizens living in nearby areas are not affected. It will help in promoting scientific dumping of trash. The civic administration has ordered a probe into dumping of construction and demolition waste in the river. As per PMC officials, the action was initiated after photos of the dumps were widely circulated on social media. Waste was seen dumped near the PMC headquarters in Shivajinagar, near Amruteshwar Ghat, and beside Jayantrao Tilak Bridge. PMC lodged a complaint in this regard on Thursday. Mayor Manjusha Nagpure also demanded that PMC take stringent action in the matter. “Incidents of illegal dumping of debris, construction waste, and garbage were observed in the riverbeds of Pune city. This is an extremely serious matter, as it risks obstructing natural flow of river, creating flood-like situations, and causing large-scale environmental damage,” a letter issued by the mayor’s office said. “What is the 24-hour flying squad —which was appointed to prevent such dumping — currently doing? Responsibility must be fixed on the concerned health inspectors and construction inspectors of the areas where the debris was dumped,” the letter said.
