Pune: Rising pollution, worsening traffic, rampant encroachments and unchecked urban development drew sharp criticism from corporators across party lines at Pune Municipal Corporation’s general body meeting on Tuesday, with elected representatives demanding immediate action based on the Environment Status Report (ESR) 2026-27 findings.ESR, published in the last week of July, came under intense scrutiny with more than 50 corporators participating in the discussion. While deputy commissioner Madhav Jagtap presented the report’s key highlights, several corporators accused PMC of overlooking some of the city’s most pressing environmental concerns, including large-scale tree felling, hill cutting, contamination of drinking water and traffic nightmare.Across party lines, the corporators said the annual ESRs had become paperwork with no follow-through, urging PMC to submit an annual “action taken report” with future environment reports.Congress corporator Arvind Shinde painted a grim picture of the city’s environmental health, saying the report revealed persistently high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels in Pune’s water bodies. “PMC has disclosed that permissions have been granted over the past five years for construction across more than 14 crore sqm. There is, however, no clear roadmap for drainage networks, stormwater infrastructure or drinking water supply. Sewage treatment plants are not fully functional and untreated sewage continues to flow into rivers and nullahs,” he said.NCP corporator Gaurav Ghule from Hadapsar demanded ward-wise environmental status assessments. “Certain areas require urgent and focused intervention. There should be localised environmental action plans. Nullah boundaries must be clearly demarcated to prevent encroachments along water bodies,” Ghule said.The issue of waste management also surfaced prominently during the discussion. Corporator Archana Patil highlighted the growing challenge of disposing of thermocol and other packaging waste, stating that PMC had failed to devise an effective mechanism to tackle the mounting problem.The most serious concern raised during the debate was, however, the recurring contamination of drinking water. NCP corporator Harshvardhan Mankar questioned the accuracy of sewage treatment data presented in ESR, saying many STPs were operating well below capacity and lack modern treatment technologies, contrary to the impression created in the report.
