At least 35 garbage-laden trucks and tractors dump waste on the plot daily, which has now spilled over into adjoining areas and the riverbank, prompting the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to issue warnings to Kadamvakvasti and Loni Kalbhor gram panchayats.The garbage issue, rooted in the absence of a solid waste management facility in the two gram panchayats, has festered for decades. Tensions escalated after a major fire at the site on Feb 26 burned for three days, releasing toxic fumes across the university campus and parts of the Pune-Solapur highway. Several students reportedly required hospitalisation due to breathing difficulties.On Wednesday, students shut the campus gate that serves as a road for villagers from Kadamvakvasti and Loni Kalbhor to reach the dumping site. They continued the blockade on Thursday till police and local representatives brokered a temporary compromise, said deputy commissioner of police Rajkumar Shinde.Nagesh Kalbhor, the former sarpanch and current administrator of Loni Kalbhor village, however, criticised authorities for failing to address the larger problem. “This is not just about two gram panchayats with a population of 1.5 lakh. None of the surrounding villages have a waste management plant or land to build one. We have repeatedly written to PMRDA and the zilla parishad seeking land for a cluster-level solid waste management facility, but our demands have gone unanswered. We cannot operate indefinitely without a disposal site. It is their responsibility to resolve this,” he said.Kalbhor added that MLA Dnyaneshwar Katke had assured them that he would convene a meeting involving PMRDA, ZP, MIT-ADT, and gram panchayat representatives to work out a permanent solution. “Even MIT-ADT staffers and students living in Loni Kalbhor and Kadamvakvasti generate waste. This is not just our problem alone,” he said.Appasaheb Gujar, deputy CEO (water and sanitation), did not respond to calls. MLA Katke said he was in a meeting and unable to comment.
