Nagpur: A delegation of Congress workers and leaders including Leader of Opposition in NMC Sanjay Mahakalkar, Adv Abhijit Vanjari and former Mayor Naresh Gawande on Wednesday gheraoed the Mayor Nanda Jichkar in her chamber over a series of fires that erupted at Bhandewadi Dumping Yard on Tuesday night. The fires created havoc in the nearby areas.
In a memorandum submitted to the Mayor, Adv Vanjari apprised her about working of Bhandewadi Dumping Yard and waste processing unit. He said that in the past two and half years, Congress staged several agitations but then Mayor and Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar failed to act on their assurances. Work at garbage processing unit has come to a standstill resulting in mountainous heaps of garbage. The miscreants picking the garbage burn the waste illegally and thus pose serious hazards to nearby residents. In winters, the billowing smoke settles in the atmosphere and the toxic air puts life of people in jeopardy, Vanjari said.
The Mayor in turn informed the Congress delegation that a total of 14 security guards have been deployed in the area to curb illegal activities in Bhandewadi Dumping Yard and garbage processing unit. But intervening in the matter, Vanjari said that the guards are only on paper. Personally no guard carries out his duty. The BJP leaders, during the campaigning for Lok Sabha, Assembly and NMC elections, had promised to shift the project to another place. But not a single move was initiated to shift the project to another safer place.
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Monday 10 Feb. 2025
The Congress leaders issued an ultimatum to the Mayor demanding resolving of the problem within one month. Otherwise, no vehicle of Kanak Resource would be allowed to run on streets and the garbage will be dumped in the office of the Mayor after one month of ultimatum.
Other leaders in the delegation include President of Rajiv Gandhi Vichar Morcha Anil Pande, Founder of Maa Bamleshwari Sanstha Gamesh Shahu, Ramdeo Agrawal, Organising Secretary of City Congress Prashant Patil, Sheikh Mujib Warsi, Kumaresh Avchat, Rajesh Dhenge, Sharif Divan, Bali Tayal, Rahul Zaveri, Dnyaneshwar Thakre, Roshan Ansari, Naushad Ansari and other wortkers.
A series of major fires broke out at Bhandewadi Dumping Yard on Tuesday, following which fire tenders were rushed to the spot. As per the information available with Fire and Emergency Services Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), fires break out at Bhandewadi Dumping Yard ‘almost daily’. On Monday also, fire broke out around 2 pm and a fire tender was sent to douse the fire. However, Tuesday saw more number of fires in one single day. Fire and Emergency Services Department of NMC received the first call regarding fire at Bhandewadi Dumping Yard, at 9.45 am. One fire tender was sent to the spot. Later, at 10.45 am, another call was received and another fire tender was rushed to the spot. Then, at 1.05 pm and 2.20 pm, two more calls were received by the department, and more fire tenders were sent to extinguish the fire. At 4.20 pm, the department received another call. This time, as the fire was major, four fire tenders were sent to the spot. Later, at 11.15 pm, one more major fire broke out at the dumping yard, and four fire tenders from Ganjipeth and Kalamna were rushed to douse the fire. The smoke billowing out of the garbage dumps on fire engulfed the nearby areas and the people living there complained of irritation in eyes and coughing.
