Aurangabad: At a time the civic administration is grappling to tide over the waste crisis in the city, it is now resorting to making false claims so as to keep the wrath of the citizens at bay.Aurangabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) claims that it has started processing the waste accumulating at Central Naka to transform the site into an eco-park is misleading as even after two months, the mounds of waste are still there and processing is yet to start.AMC’s apathy is not only posing hazards to residents and commuters but is also delaying the dry waste sorting centre in the compound.The civic body had dumped around 4,000 metric tonnes of waste from March to July at Central Naka which houses the local body tax office, zone 3 office, the parking compound for garbage trucks, a dog pound and a dry waste sorting centre.AMC stopped dumping waste and engaged Mahatma Gandhi Mission (MGM) to provide consultancy on the treatment of waste. According to the plan, the site is to be developed as an eco-park.Project head from MGM R R Deshpande said that he has asked AMC officials to begin screening of waste. “As part of our first two milestones, we made the site odour and fly free and produced compost out of the organic material from the waste. In the next phase, the non-biodegradable waste will have to be screened by January 26,” said Deshpande.Currently, the site is housing 2,500-3,000 tonnes of waste mostly comprising plastic, metal, cardboard and clothes. AMC has erected tin walls to prevent the waste from coming to the notice of the residents. The employees in the offices are subjected to unhygienic conditions and a dry waste sorting centre is locked down because of the waste pile up.According to the people working in the offices at the site, 3-4 informal waste pickers work in the morning at the site to segregate the waste manually.Deshpande said that he has asked AMC officials to install the machine for screening the waste. “We are waiting for the waste to be screened and shredded following which we will begin the next phase of work at the site,” he said.Executive engineer Afsar Siddiqui said that he has asked ward officer Mukund Kulkarni to increase the number of workers for manual segregation of waste. He added that as quality of waste was not good, informal waste pickers were reluctant to work. Unlike Deshpande, Siddiqui said machines would not be installed for segregation at the site.

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