Waste mountain flattens building in Pune, traps 18

A day after a large portion of a three-storeyed building at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)’s waste-to-energy facility in Moshi collapsed, flattened by an adjacent large mound of waste that toppled on the building in heavy rain, eight persons buried under the debris remained untraced till late Thursday night.

Nine persons were rescued till late Wednesday after 18 people were trapped under the debris. One person was pulled out of the rubble on Thursday morning but was declared dead. However, the remaining eight are still missing despite rescue operations continuing through the day.

The building was located next to the mound of the Secure Landfill Facility (SLF). Due to heavy rain in the region, the mound came down like a landslide on the building. There were 23 people in the building at the time and five managed to escape. The remaining 18 were trapped.

All 18 are employees at the waste processing facility and were on their lunch break at the time of the incident around 1.30 pm. Officials said the structure that collapsed was the administrative building of the waste-to-energy project for which the PCMC has an agreement with Antony Lara Renewable Energy Ltd.

Speaking to The Indian Express, PCMC City Engineer Sanjay Kulkarni, who also heads the civic environment department and the Moshi garbage depot, said the building was constructed at least 30 metres away from the garbage mountain. “The building was constructed following all norms. It is wrong to say we had not taken adequate safety steps. Besides, we keep clearing it. Soil is put in the garbage which hardens it. As a result, even trucks and JCBs go atop it to clear the garbage in a phased manner.”

The PCMC blamed heavy rainfall for the slip. “We never thought the hardened stuff would loosen this way. It has never happened over the years. Due to heavy rainfall, water entered the garbage mound, which came loose and fell on the building. A road separates the building and the garbage. The construction of the building was done as per laid-down norms,” he said.

Asked why a retaining wall was not constructed, Kulkarni said, “As the building was at a safe distance from the heap of garbage we never thought about it.”

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Angry relatives of the missing persons slammed the PCMC. “The building should not have been constructed so close to the mountain of garbage. The civic body does not seem to have taken enough care to ensure the safety of those working in the garbage depot,” said Santosh Kumbhar, a relative of Mahesh Kumbhar, who remains untraced so far.

Opposition leader Bhausaheb Bhor from the NCP said the PCMC has been negligent in ensuring the safety of the employees and a culpable homicide case should be filed against those responsible. Echoing his views, Narendra Bansode, president of Pimpri-Chinchwad Congress, said, “The PCMC has clearly played with the lives of employees. All those guilty should be made accountable and punished.”

Outside the garbage depot, families of those still missing waited in agony as the rescue operations stretched to over 30 hours.

HR Assistant Mahesh Kumbhar’s brother Santosh Kumbhar rushed to Pune from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar when he got to know that Mahesh was trapped in the building. It has not even been a month since Mahesh’s marriage, and he was looking for a flat on rent so that his wife could shift to Pune with him, Santosh said.

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“We got a call at 1 am and I left at 2 am, reached here at 10 am. No official has met me till now and I don’t know if the people of the company are even here. Other than the phone call, the company has not told us anything. We just hope that everyone comes out safely,” he added.

Waman Kasbe, missing in the rubble, is from Beed and had shifted to Pune over 15 years ago. He worked as a cleaner at the plant, informed his nephew Krushna Kasbe. Several family members sat on the roadside near the rescue operations with teary eyes.

Santosh Kharat, uncle of missing office boy Nagesh Gaikwad, had not left the premises of the plant since he arrived the previous day. “We can only hope, what else can we do? It is very unfortunate. Fortunately some people were able to get out.”

“We are helpless as we can’t do anything. When the pace of work increases our hope rises that someone is being rescued. But we spent last night here and it seems we might have to spend another night here as well,” he said.

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The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, Pimpri Chinchwad Fire Department, PMRDA Fire Brigade, and police administration are jointly carrying out the rescue operations. NDRF officials said they have been extremely careful while handling the rubble. “That is why we were successful in rescuing nine persons. We have worked both manually and with machines. We thought we could finish the work today itself but it was not possible. We are making all-out efforts to pull out those who are missing,” said an NDRF official.