PUNE: Burning of garbage has become such a regular feature in Hinjawadi that the fire brigade personnel have become used to the location and the drill. On Wednesday night, a fire caused due to burning of garbage in Hinjawadi Phase I took the fire brigade around 20-25 minutes to extinguish it.

“After I got notified of the fire, I called the Fire Brigade to inform them. As I was explaining to them the address, they immediately said that they knew where it was, so much is the frequency of these fires,” said Dnyanendra Hulsure from the Hinjewadi Employees and Residents Trust (HEART).

The fire was caused by garbage at the T-Junction in Hinjawadi Phase I.

“If you ask the firemen, you will realise how many times we have fires in these areas. Despite so much garbage burning in the area, we do not see any action being taken to tackle the problem in the long term,” Hulsure said.

Speaking on the issue, fireman DP Sutar said that the Fire Brigade is called to douse fire at least once every 15-20 days in the area.

“There are many garbage dumping areas in the Hinjawadi IT Park. Hence, we often have cases of garbage catching fire, many times due to accidental sparks. There are complaints that these fires are started by some people purposely. However, we are not able to determine who may be behind them,” Sutar added.