Pune: The Moshi garbage depot accident has triggered a waste collection crisis in Pimpri-Chinchwad, disrupting door-to-door collection in several parts of the city. As access to the facility remained cut off, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had to identify temporary sites to store the daily waste generated across its jurisdiction, civic officials said.

Pune, Jul 10 (ANI): Earth movers deployed at the building collapse incident site in the Moshi area of Pimpri Chinchwad, in Pune on Friday. (ANI Video Grab) (ANI Video Grab)

Waste collection operations have been severely affected starting Thursday because vehicles could not enter the Moshi depot after a massive garbage mound collapsed onto the administrative building of the waste-to-energy plant on Wednesday. The access road to the depot remains blocked due to the ongoing rescue operation for eight people feared trapped beneath the collapsed structure and garbage mound.

The PCMC collects household waste through garbage collection vehicles and transports it to the Moshi depot for processing and disposal. However, according to civic officials, the collection schedules collapsed on Thursday.

Garbage vehicles arrived several hours late in some areas, and door-to-door collection was suspended in several localities. With no place to unload the waste, some vehicles remained parked with collected garbage at ward offices.

The situation has forced the civic body to temporarily store waste within its ward office limits until access to the Moshi depot is restored.

Dr Pradeep Thengal, deputy municipal commissioner, PCMC health department, said. “There is currently no access road for garbage vehicles to enter the Moshi depot. And, there is no clarity on how long the rescue operation would continue. Therefore, waste will be temporarily stored at five identified locations within the ward office limits. Sites have been identified in five ward areas, while the search for suitable locations continues in the A, B and G ward limits.”

He added that the accumulated waste would be transported to the Moshi depot once the access road is restored.

The sudden disruption inconvenienced residents, forcing several households to retain their waste after collection vehicles failed to arrive. Santosh Patil, a resident of Chinchwad, said, “The garbage collection vehicle did not come to our area on Thursday. As a result, household waste remained uncollected.”

Civic officials said efforts are underway to streamline the temporary waste storage system and restore door-to-door collection across the city at the earliest. Nevertheless, they added, the continued closure of access to the Moshi depot has raised concerns about managing thousands of tonnes of municipal waste if the rescue operation and site clearance take longer than expected.