Pune: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench in Pune that it had asked Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) to take measures to avoid garbage burning , particularly at Hadapsar industrial dumping site in the city. The NGT’s principal bench had taken suo motu cognizance of a news item mentioning that around 200 families, all residents of Magarpatta City, have been gagging on air that has been rendered thick by garbage burning in the neighbouring Hadapsar area and Hadapsar industrial area. It had directed PMC and MPCB to file their responses for the same.
The board, in its reply to the tribunal, stated that PMC and PCB need to take suitable measures to avoid garbage burning and fire incidents in their respective areas. “The news item indicates violation of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,” said the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and expert member Vijay Kulkarni, making PCB a respondent in the case. In accordance with this, the corporation and cantonment board, upon receiving notices from the pollution control body, stated their respective action plans to tackle the issue throughout their jurisdictions in an affidavit submitted by the MPCB on Wednesday.
The Hadapsar-Mundhwa and Dhole-Patil Road office have been asked to conduct regular investigations at four spots and fine offenders.