Pune: The death of a five-year-old girl on Monday, under the wheels of a PCMC garbage truck, has raised serious safety questions around the civic body’s waste collection fleet. Online records showed the vehicle involved in the incident was plying on roads with an expired pollution certificate.A TOI analysis of the fleet’s health showed Pimpri Chinchwad RTO had recently fined nearly 25 of these vehicles for various violations during a two-month inspection drive from July to Aug. RTO officials then wrote to PCMC, asking it to ensure vehicles deployed for garbage collection and transportation had valid documents and fitness certificates.Rahul Jadhav, deputy RTO, Pimpri Chinchwad, told TOI most of the inspected vehicles were either missing fitness certificates or simply unfit to ply on public roads.“Since some of these vehicles are used for waste collection, their condition deteriorates faster. They need to be properly maintained,” Jadhav said.He added that the vehicles are checked for basic roadworthiness whenever they are brought to the RTO for fitness certification. These inspections apply to vehicles irrespective of whether they are private or government-owned.A senior PCMC official, while confirming receipt of the letter from the RTO, said the two contractors engaged by the civic body for waste collection and transportation have been asked to submit all vehicle documents on priority for verification. The two contractors in total operate around 335 vehicles. Daily fleet size can increase depending on the day’s waste load.Concerns about the condition and functioning of these vehicles were also discussed during a recent general body meeting of PCMC, where corporators brought up frequent breakdowns and irregular waste collection.Municipal commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi said at the time both contractors had been issued notices several times and that civic officials had been directed to register FIRs if complaints continued.Pimpri Chinchwad residents too said they had repeatedly complained to civic officials about the way the vehicles were being driven and maintained.“Just by their appearance, one gets the feeling they are unfit to be on roads,” said Kiwale resident Vijay Takmoge. “We see them every day in the same condition as our society is located next to a waste-transfer station,” he said.Another resident said PCMC officials had recently admitted to them that several of these vehicles were operating without valid documents. “Civic officials know the state of these vehicles, yet they continue to operate on roads, putting our lives at risk,” the resident said.Suryawanshi had also said during the GB meeting weeks ago that the agreement with the two contractors was valid till June 2027. He said terminating their services was not immediately feasible despite demands to blacklist them. He also said there was no alternative arrangement to handle the daily collection and transportation of waste and that cancelling the contracts would lead to disruptions in the city’s waste management system.
