Pune: Several Pimpri Chinchwad neighbourhoods are facing irregular garbage collection and growing waste piles as PCMC has not resumed dumping at the Moshi landfill nearly two weeks after a massive garbage mound collapsed onto the administrative building of the waste-to-energy plant, killing nine people.Civic officials said debris from the collapse was still being cleared from the internal access road used by garbage trucks, delaying the facility’s reopening. “We are trying to ensure the depot is reopened at the earliest. Other facilities, including the hotel waste-to-biogas plant and the construction and demolition waste plant, are functioning,” executive engineer Sohan Nikam said. He, however, did not specify when landfill operations would resume.The areas within Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits generate around 1,400 to 1,500 tonnes of solid waste daily. While about 50 tonnes of hotel waste is processed at the biogas plant, the remaining is routed to the waste-to-energy plant, composting facilities and the Moshi landfill for treatment and disposal. “For now, waste is being diverted to alternative facilities, including depots at the Dehu Road and Khadki cantonments, and a few open plots. The limited capacity of these sites and their distance from the city have, however, posed significant logistical challenges,” an official said.The disruption has begun affecting door-to-door waste collection. “The garbage vehicle is coming only on alternate days, and officials told us this arrangement will continue till the Moshi depot reopens. In many housing societies nearby, garbage has not been collected for days and is piling up outside the gates,” Vishalnagar resident Anil Gawade said.Prajakta Rudrawar, chairperson of the Ravet-Kiwale-Mamurdi Housing Society Federation, said complaints of uncollected garbage were on the rise. “Housing societies across our federation are reporting delayed collection every day. Roadside dumping has increased significantly,” she said.The environment department is also grappling with a leadership transition following the tragedy. Municipal commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi had suspended environment department head Sanjay Kulkarni and executive engineer Yogesh Alhat, citing alleged negligence. They have since been replaced by chief engineer Pramod Ombhase and executive engineer Sohan Nikam.Ombhase said he was still familiarising himself with the department’s operations.Meanwhile, PCMC has directed private contractors engaged in biomining at the Moshi landfill to immediately resume operations, which had been halted during the monsoon. In a letter issued last week, PCMC told contractors to restart the biomining plant at full capacity with necessary safety and mitigation measures. It warned that any unauthorised delay in resuming waste processing would be treated as a contractual violation and could invite action under the agreement.
