The residents of New Pan Card Club Road in Pune's Baner are expressing their frustration regarding the severe neglect of road and footpath cleaning in their area. They claim that despite raising several complaints online and contacting the local team several times over the past few weeks, no action has been taken. "The road remains filled with garbage and debris, creating an unhygienic and unsafe environment for pedestrians and residents," said a local resident.
Rohan Seher, a resident of Baner, highlighted, "The PMC should publish a clear chart of garbage pick-up days for every area, along with details of street sweeping and waste collection schedules. I recently visited Indore, where, with the help of authorities, the city is kept clean and organised. On this 2.5 km stretch of road, there are no garbage bins at all. Ideally, every 100 meters, there should be two bins - one for dry and one for wet waste. Along with the bins, regular collection days must be fixed and followed strictly. Providing infrastructure is the most basic responsibility of the PMC. Once that is in place, residents can be trained and educated to maintain cleanliness. Unfortunately, as soon as elections are over, things go back to square one."
Another resident, Arvind Gidroniya, a resident of Supreme Estia society, Baner, said, "We have 20 new big societies in this area and it has 5,000 plus flats. The workers who come to collect the garbage sometimes don't have enough equipment to collect the garbage. The continued inaction is deeply disappointing and reflects a lack of responsiveness to genuine civic concerns. The PMC should conduct immediate cleaning of the affected road and footpath."
Abhijna Hegde, a resident of Jade Nature's club, said, "Our issues are beyond frustration. I have been living here for the past three years, and in these years, we have had three cleanliness drives where residents voluntarily came together and cleaned the tekdis, and later we also collaborated with the Swatch team to clean the roads and tekdis."
"We live opposite Baner tekdi. Some residents have hired personal cleaners for cleaning the tekdi. A lot of construction work is going on at New Pan Card Club Road, and the workers drink over there, leaving bottles and cigarette butts. Still, we regularly clean the tekdis, but now people are dumping construction waste on the tekdi, and it is becoming difficult to clean. So now we are requesting the authorities to clear and clean the tekdis. The roads are also filled with dirt and filth. We have been asking for regular clean-ups. We were told by the civic authority in December last year that the roads would be cleaned thrice a week, but even that is not happening. Some people have hired personal cleaners to clean the tekdis and roads, and they are paying out of their own pockets," added Hegde.
Another resident said, "I'm sick and tired of the dumping in our area. The Nature Club and some other people are doing a great job by employing cleaners on a personal basis, but unfortunately, that's not the solution."
Meanwhile, Sandeep Kadam, Head of the Solid Waste Management Department, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, "We are swiftly taking action once we receive a complaint. All sanitary inspectors have been instructed to visit and inspect the areas and take up the clean-up drives."
