Residents of Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, where about 900 tonnes of garbage collected across Pune has been dumped every day for years, have been crying hoarse about the health hazards they face. As if the stench of garbage without any scientific treatment and the resultant illnesses were not bad enough, sporadic fires at the garbage depots are posing even more potent health hazards.

Civic activist Dilip Mehta said the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) gave access to the 2000-2006 details under the Right to Information Act (RTI). “The civic body had revealed that the number of fires in these seven years was close to 2,000.Fires keep breaking out almost throughout the year, except during the rainy season, and the frequency goes up during the summer. The toxic emissions from such fires are a huge health hazard,” he said.

Once freshly dumped garbage catches fire, it spreads fast and takes days to extinguish. This is leading to respiratory problems and skin diseases among villagers.

Suresh Jagtap, head of solid waste management department of the PMC, said, “It’s true that the number of fires increases during the summer as the gas that comes out of the garbage flares up in the heat. We are working on how the methane could be capped for turning it into energy. We have to depute many fire extinguishers to control the fire, yet it takes days to do so. Therefore, we have already started building a water tank with a capacity of two lakh litres. We will keep this tank filled with water 24×7 and use it immediately without wasting any time in calling for fire engines. The tank will be complete by the end of this month and we could use it next summer,” Jagtap said.