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TIMES CITY | SPECIAL REPORT

SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Life In A Garbage Dump

In The Villages Of Phursungi, Uruli Devachi & Mantarwadi, Farmlands Are Infertile And Water Is Not
Fit To Drink. Residents Complain Of Poor Health, But Stay On Hoping Change Will Come Some Day
Pics: Shyam Sonar

Radheshyam.Jadhav
@timesgroup.com

oni picks up a morsel of

rice, deftly dodges a
bunch of dragon-sized
flies and mosquitoes hovering over her plate and
quickly stuffs the food in her
mouth. Rodents run past her plate,
and she watches a bunch of stray
dogs fight in a garbage mound
near her shanty in Power Station
locality of Phursungi, where she,
like other residents, has become
only too used to the sight and
stench of trash that Pune dumps
in her backyard every day.
Soni lives near the 163-acre
plot spread across three villages
of Phursungi, Mantarwadi and
Uruli Devachi that the Pune Municipal Corporation uses to dump
garbage. This open mammoth
dustbin of the city, with almostdefunct garbage processing units,
was meant to be a temporary arrangement, but 23 years on, villagers are losing hope. They fear
the dump yard that has rendered
their farmlands infertile and water in wells non-potable may
never be closed. Villagers say
they live in an island of deprivation in a flourishing Pune. Land
prices in these villages have
plummeted under the weight of
a garbage identity that has clung
to these parts as strongly as the
stench that has permeated their
clothes, and also their lungs.
The garbage dump has destroyed our lives. It has damaged
our health, ruined our land, polluted our water and has given our
villages the tag of a garbage
dump, says Balasaheb Harpale,
a local doctor.

The garbage processing

plants in the villages are
currently lying defunct.
Villagers have stopped
entry of garbage trucks
since December 31

The burden of
disease and apathy

n a weekday afternoon, a
group of women in Phursungi stand in a huddle
around a public water tap connected to a newly-laid PMC pipeline, a perk offered to the village
for putting up with the citys garbage for years. With water in its
wells and borewells contaminated, one part of the village depends on this water tap and another on PMCs water tankers.
The water supply is as much
a perk as it is a tool in the hands
of the municipal corporation to
ensure that villagers dont protest. Locals say the civic body and
city leaders stop water supply if
they protest against garbage
dumping an annual ritual when
villagers block entry of garbage
vehicles for a few days.
There are days when we
dont have water even in our toilets if the PMC doesnt send tankers. Wells in the village have
enough water, but it has turned
toxic with the leachate from garbage dump, says a villager.
We have large tracts of family land here and we once owned
a massive custard apple and banana cultivation, but we have
abandoned it as the water in the
two wells that once supported
horticultural activity is now tarlike. Whatever little agriculture
is left in the village depends on
canal water, adds Harpale who
is also the president of Saswad
Road Doctors Association.
The air in these villages is as
polluted as its water. The garbage
stink hangs in the air in Phursungi, Uruli Devachi and Mantar-

wadi villages, which have a collective population of one lakh,

but an estimated 150 clinics and
hospitals. A striking number of
paediatricians practice here and
business at clinics, many of them
swank-looking, is brisk.
You will find patients of
asthma and respiratory tract infections in every household. People also suffer from all types of
skin diseases apart from various
aches and pains. The overall immunity of villagers is poor as
they heavily depend on antibiotics all the time, said Harpale.
Another doctor here, Mahesh
Shende, points out that dengue,
malaria, diarrhoea, cholera and
typhoid are common ailments,
with children and the elderly the
worst hit. "When Pune city was
reeling from the swine flu epidemic, used masks of citizens were
being dumped in their villages,"
recalls Shende.
The resentment against this
apathy has been building up. For
23 years now, the PMC and citizens
have not bothered about our
health. Whenever we stop the entry
of PMCs garbage vehicles, leaders
tell us that garbage spilling over
from bins could create health problems for Punes citizens. But have
they ever thought how we have
been living with the same hazardous garbage for years, questions
Tatya Bhadale of Uruli village.
The disgust for Pune city and
its civic body is palpable. People
here scoff at the mixed garbage
the city dumps in their villages.
Pune is said to be a developed
city, but citizens dont know how
to segregate garbage, says a local resident here.

Trash identity
fails realty
check

1) There are only two sources of water in these parts a

water tanker and a public water tap, both provided by the
PMC. 2) Tar-like water in wells. 3) The civic body started the
capping process in 2012 and work on one patch of the
dumpsite is completed. 4) A defunct garbage processing unit

TAKING OUT THE TRASH

1,400-1,500
metric tonnes is the
average garbage
quantity Pune city
generates daily

1,000 -1,100
tonnes is sent to the
processing plants
in Phursungi &
Uruli Devachi

ilip
Mehta,
president of
the Phursungi
environment
conservation
committee, says
the PMC had
stopped the garbage depot in Kothr ud because citizens there
had complained of foul odour. In
1991, the PMC acquired 43 acre
land in Uruli Devachi for a garbage
dump. In 2004, the MPCB asked the
PMC to look for another dumping
ground and they along with Pune
leaders very cleverly acquired another 120 acre land from Phursungi and Mantarwadi, adjacent to
Uruli Devachi dump. Since then,
the corporation has been dumping
garbage in the name of processing
it, says Mehta.
Locals have, however, stayed on
in the hope that they would one day
be able to monetise the land they
own, once the villages are able to
shed their garbage tag, even as
they battle multiple concerns. For
instance, there is an unusual social
problem these three villages face
a majority of houses here dont
have any visitors, ever. Even relatives dont visit us. And when we
visit them, the first question they
ask is about the garbage. They say
we even smell different, says a local resident.
Many families have been living
here before the garbage depot was
planted right at their doorstep,
and others stay here as they cannot afford to live elsewhere. The
stigma is not limited to social interactions alone, with the stench
denting realty prices as well.
Kothrud has developed and
look at what has happened to us.
The garbage depot has become the
identity of our villages, says Mehta. Locals say they are struggling
to get rid of this garbage dump
and more importantly the garbage

Ram

identity. No girl is ready to get

married in these villages. The
minute they hear the name of
Uruli Devachi or Phursungi, they
stop asking any further questions, says an elderly resident.
The frustration has only increased with the realty boom in
Pune and its fringes. Sanjay Harpale, a young politician and
former sarpanch of Phursungi,
says, We have land, but we cannot
cultivate it. We are eager to get
into realty business, but who will
buy flats near a garbage depot.
Sanjay further notes: Hadapsar is just 2 km from Phursungi.
The ongoing property rates there
start from Rs 6,000-7,000 per sq ft.
In our villages, the rate hovers
between Rs 2,000-3,000 per sq ft.
Investors do not wish to buy property here because of the garbage
depot. The fringes around Pune
have developed, except this area,
he says.
Some farmers have constructed godowns along Saswad Road
that are used by business houses
and industries to store material to
avoid paying LBT. But villagers
say that this investment has not
yielded the expected result and
realty appears to them as the only
lucrative option. We have our
own land which we want to develop. But customers these days
seek amenities such as swimming
pools. Here we struggle to get
drinking water, how can we bring

water for swimming, asks Ratan,

a local youth.
The only visible activity here
is on the main road leading to the
villages where small restaurants,
sweet shops and small mobile
stores have come up. The heavy
traffic moving towards Saswad
has these small entrepreneurs do

to handle its garbage problem.

The PMC is not even providing water on time. All these years
they have deceived us by making
false promises. Now we wont allow garbage dumping and processing in our village limits, says an
angry villager.

The landfill site is very old

and releases leachate
during rains, which
contaminates ground
water used for drinking
and irrigation
reasonable business. In recent
times, some companies and business houses have opened their offices and workshops at some distance from Phursungi. But there
is still a lot of scope for economic
development. The only hurdle is
the garbage dump, says Rakesh
a restaurant owner.

Politics of promises

nce every year, the three villages Pune city uses as its
dustbin close their doors to
garbage vehicles. Protests are often always handled with promises
of good roads, potable water and
jobs that manage to placate villagers, but only for a while as the
promises start falling apart like
the citys almost non-existent plan

The heaps of garbage have also

turned into concrete ground for
political posturing. Young leaders
from across political parties agitate against the PMC when it suits
them politically. The BJP-Sena,
which earlier led protests, now
seek an amicable solution after
villagers once again blocked the
entry of garbage vehicles from
December 31. The NCP has
switched to the villagers side,
standing up for their rights.
Governments change, but political statements remain much
the same. Punes guardian minister Girish Bapat says, The city
generates not more than 1,200
tonne garbage. The number is inflated for the benefit of some people. The state government is talking to villagers and PMC officials.

POSSIBLE

SOLUTIONS
Scientific capping is the
only solution to the
stench that villagers face,
but water contamination
will remain
Suggestions include
decentralising processing

units and segregating

garbage at source
Residential societies
should take care of their
own garbage than
dumping it
Vermi-composting
should be implemented for
processing wet garbage
PUNE'S BACKYARD: The realty boom in Pune and its fringes finds no resonance in the three villages of Phursungi, Uruli Devachi and
Mantarwadi, where the citys garbage depot is located. (right) Murky water spills on the streets and villagers show contaminated
water in wells the outcome of hazardous waste piling up on their land for years now and leachate seeping into the ground

Small bio-gas at
every ward level

It is true that villagers have suffered because of the garbage

dump all these years and now we
need to find sustainable solution.
Shiv Senaa Purandar MLA Vijay
Shivtare, who had led many agitations in the past, said recently that
discussions, not agitations can
yield a solution.
Civic officials maintain they
started capping process at the
dumpsite in 2012, which includes
scientific closure, reclamation,
resource extraction and post-closure maintenance. The process is
important to prevent fires that can
be caused due to the production
of flammable gases. The project
is being implemented in accordance with the provisions of the
Environmental (Protection) Act,
1986 and the Municipal Solid
Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 and includes a
leachate collection and a gas extraction system. Then a green
cover will be developed on the
capped area, said Suresh Jagtap,
head of PMCs solid waste management cell. The work is currently underway and work on one
patch of the dumpsite has been
completed so far.
Curiously, the central government had awarded Pune for its
"best efforts" to manage its garbage that had even the staunchest
government loyalists wonder the
logic behind the acclaim. National and international experts and

GRIM REALITY

researchers have visited Pune

in recent years to study the city's
model. But huge hollow structures of the much-lauded Selco
and Hanjaer processing units lie
deserted amidst huge piles of
garbage.
Other villages are already alert
as the PMC has started looking for
a new dumping ground and plots
to set up processing units. Villages in Pune region have learnt
from us. Our three villages stand
as an example of what reckless
urbanization can do to the citys
fringes, says Anant Bhadale of
Uruli Devachi.
Bhadale says that the villages
are keen to shed their trash identities. We are not kachrawalas.
We want to live in a clean environment and lead a healthy life. Our
children have the same rights as
children in the city, he said.
Local experts and NGOs are
willing to work with the PMC and
provide solutions, but the civic
administration and elected members have not paid any heed to
them so far.
The villagers have already
closed their doors on the citys
garbage many times. Pune is already dumping considerable trash
in its river, nullahs, gardens and
footpaths. It wont be long possibly
before Puneites get a glimpse of
what locals in these three villages
have gone through in the last
23 years.