City grapples with post-Diwali waste crisis, residents demand swift clean-up

Pune: Several neighbourhoods in the city are struggling with mounting garbage problems as post-Diwali waste has not been collected even days after the festival. The situation has led to health as well as environmental concerns. In Undri, abandoned firecracker stalls have transformed into impromptu garbage dumps.

Kadnagar Chowk has become a chronic waste collection point, with uncollected debris from firecracker stalls accumulating with residential waste. "We don't have space to store uncollected garbage in our homes," said Meher Shukla, an Undri resident. "Authorities need to implement a more efficient waste collection system, especially during festivals.



" The situation is similar at Golibar Maidan, where burnt cracker debris and plastic waste from temporary stalls litter the grounds. "Vendors have abandoned their stalls, leaving behind piles of garbage. Seeing this, others have started dumping their waste there too, creating a vicious cycle.

The mosquito problem is getting worse by the day," said another Undri resident Aneesh Rai. In Wanowrie, pre-Diwali discards such as furniture and renovation waste continue to pile up. Open grounds in Kedarinagar have become unofficial dumping grounds for festival waste as well as the garbage dumped by vendors and residents.

Sanitation workers say there are multiple challenges. Shanta Kasbe, a sanitary worker, said, "Vendors don't properly consolidate their waste before leaving, making our job more difficult. They should at least gather it in one place for easier collection.

" Another sanitation worker from Wanowrie pointed at infrastructure limitations. "Our carts are not big enough to carry large items discarded by housing societies. When residents can't keep the waste on their premises, it ends up on the roads, and PMC waste collection vans don't always pick it up," the worker said.

The Wanowrie ward office attributed the delay in clean up to sanitation workers being away on Diwali leave, and claimed that cleaning efforts have resumed in some localities. "Citizens need to implement good civic sense to help us keep the city clean. Housing societies can inform us when they need tree debris, discarded furniture and so on to be collected, and we will arrange a vehicle to pick it up," a sanitary inspector from the ward office said.

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