The Pune Municipal Corporation's highly-touted 'Vishwa 2025' waste management initiative, launched as a pilot project in Vimannagar during September, is facing significant criticism from area residents despite initial claims of success by civic officials. What was promoted as a revolutionary approach to mechanize and privatize waste collection has revealed multiple operational deficiencies, casting doubt on the project's citywide expansion plans.
Resident Complaints and Cleanliness Drive
On November 3, the citizens' initiative 'Viman Nagar Samsya' submitted a formal letter to PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, demanding immediate intervention in civic issues, with faulty garbage collection and inadequate street cleaning topping their concerns. The situation became particularly evident when local residents conducted their own cleanliness drive on November 22, collecting substantial amounts of trash from CCD Chowk to Konarknagar.
Anita Hanumante, a long-time Vimannagar resident, expressed her disappointment: "If the goal of this new campaign was cleaner streets, the pilot has been a complete failure. Hawkers and others continue to dump waste in public spaces, and the area remains as dirty as ever."
Integration Issues with SWaCH Workers
The initiative faced opposition from its inception due to conflicts with the SWaCH cooperative, which represents waste pickers who had been serving the area for decades. SWaCH members allege that PMC launched the pilot without proper notice, directly displacing established workers and treating integration as an afterthought.
According to SWaCH CEO Lubna Anantakrishnan, only around 60 workers have been integrated into the new system, with merely one in four actually assigned to waste collection duties. She highlighted deteriorating working conditions, stating workers are now required to lift heavy loads, climb into mixed-waste vehicles, and sort garbage on streets while being barred from recovering recyclables despite previous assurances.
"This has resulted in lower earnings despite longer working hours, often exceeding eight hours daily," Anantakrishnan told media sources.
Resident Experiences and Allegations of Misconduct
Several residents reported concerning interactions with PMC vendors. One anonymous resident described how SWaCH workers were threatened to stop collecting waste from their 20-flat building. When garbage began accumulating, PMC officials allegedly demanded either payment of a fine or a higher monthly fee to hire their approved vendors.
"How does a civic body working to serve citizens justify such behavior?" the resident questioned. "PMC's waste collection is supposed to be free, but officials are blatantly asking us to pay more than before and threatening those who don't choose their services."
Another resident from a well-known society shared similar experiences, noting that PMC threatened their private vendors and refused to collect wet waste, despite their society being constructed before 2005 and lacking the required composting facilities.
Mixed Reactions and Ongoing Challenges
While some residents expressed cautious optimism, others noted practical difficulties. Chand Pathan, a 50-year resident, stated he didn't mind who collected waste as long as the job was done properly. Meanwhile, residents Jyoti Jadhav and Chaaya Puri, both two-decade residents, noted that while SWaCH remained effective in some areas, PMC showed better performance in others, though street conditions showed no improvement.
PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram acknowledged the pilot's incomplete success, describing it as "work in progress." He identified several challenges, including insufficient waste segregation at source and fewer collection vans than required.
"We are building an entirely new system specifically suited for Pune," Ram explained. "The Vimannagar pilot is not a complete success yet, but we are working on getting there. We need to change the culture of waste disposal at the source, which begins with proper segregation."
The commissioner confirmed plans to extend the project to more Zone 1 areas, including Yerawada and other Nagar Road localities, despite the current operational challenges and resident complaints in the initial pilot area.
