Garbage Dumping Ground in Pune Causing Health Hazards to Nearby Residents

The industrial and commercial waste generated from Pune that is dumped in Urali Devachi, about 25 kilometers from the city, is creating a host of problems for the nearby villagers.

Urali Devachi village has been turned into a garbage dumping ground for tonnes of waste generated by the city’s nearly five million plus population.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) shifted the dumping ground from Kothrud to Urali Devachi, located on Pune-Saswad road, in 1999.

Over 1,250 tonnes of garbage, including plastic waste, is dumped everyday at the five-acre dumping ground close to the village.

Villagers complain that they are facing a host of problems, mainly relating to health, due to contamination and pollution.

Villagers have been forced to abandon farmlands, which have been strewn with polythene bags and waste material brought by winds from the garbage dump.

Ground water has also been contaminated. Dengue, malaria, diarrhoea are common ailments people are suffering with, besides the menace of stray dogs.

“There is lot of percolation from the garbage dump. People are falling ill. The water is contaminated. Corporation officials had promised clean water. They have also laid a pipeline but there is no water,” said Dnyaneshwar Admane, the village head.

Tatya Saheb Bhadale, a village youth, said: “Because of this, people from nearby areas are not giving their daughters in marriage to boys in our village. Everyone here is facing a lot of problems”.

The residents have opposed Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) recent move to open new landfills around the village.

The PMC is yet to undertake work at the dumping ground on the Central Government sponsored Solid Waste Management and Drainage Programme, for which the funds were recently earmarked.

Source: ANI
SRM/M