Pune Municipal Corporation Jupiter Dnyaneshwar I have been visiting the tekdi regularly for tree plantation drives. But for the past few days, I have observed that people from nearby societies have started throwing their garbage here —Shankar Tamhane, resident While on the one hand the Swachh Bharat initiative has been launched across the country, residents of the Smart City area of Baner are struggling to get their garbage cleaned on a regular basis. The situation has worsened to such an extent that residents of the Tukai Mandir Tekdi area are finding it difficult to go for their daily walks on the tekdi. Citizens have claimed that despite their repeated requests, civic officials fail to ensure that the area gets cleaned.(PMC) officials have, however, stated that cleaning is done regularly and they will send their employees to check the details of this particular complaint.Tukai Mandir Tekdi near Baner Gaon is one of the favourite spots of residents staying nearby for going on walks. But for the past few days, citizens of the area are complaining that alot of garbage is piling up at the site. They have claimed that the situation is so bad that many of the residents have stopped going for walks.Speaking about the problem, Shankar Tamhane, a resident of this area said, “I have been visiting the tekdi regularly for tree plantation drives. But for the past few days, I have observed that people from nearby societies have started throwing their garbage here. While we tried using the waste that could be converted into compost for the trees, not everything can be cleaned. The situation has worsened in the past few days and PMC officials have not bothered to get it cleaned.”According to the residents, the problem is not limited to this particular area alone. Vaishali Patkar, member of Aundh Baner Balewadi Residents’ Association, said, “We are getting so many images of garbage spread all over the place. PMC should lay out guidelines for waste disposal and implement it properly. Every time due to some or the other reason the garbage keeps piling up. Whenever we point it out, the ward office people pick it up immediately. But they should do it without our having to tell them.”“This month we discussed only this issue in our mohalla committee meeting. There is pile of garbage nearHospital. If this is the condition near a hospital, then we can’t think of what is happening in other areas. We feel there is shortage of manpower and also very few vehicles. But while the officials promise these issues will be resolved, nothing happens on ground,” she added.When quizzed about this,Molak, head of PMC’s solid waste management department, said, “There is no reason for this kind of complaints from this area. I have visited the tekdi and it was clean then. But if there is a specific complaint, I will ask officials from the ward office to look into it.”

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