Pune, 11 November 2025: A sanitation organisations in Pune has opposed the Municipal Corporation’s decision to replace traditional pushcarts with direct garbage-collection trucks. The group claims that the new system is causing major delays, forcing many women waste pickers to wait for several hours at feeder points before the trucks arrive.
According to the organisation, Pune has around 1,076 feeder points, and trucks reportedly arrive late at about 32% of these locations. At nearly 6% of spots, trucks allegedly do not arrive at all. The delays leave waste pickers waiting until mid-afternoon without food, rest, or access to toilets, while garbage piles up on the roads.
They also report that more than 400 locations are now struggling with accumulated trash due to delayed transport and overburdened waste-processing centres.
Sarika Ukirde said she must report for work at 7 a.m., finish her collection by late morning, and then wait until late afternoon for trucks to arrive. If waste is left behind, she says waste pickers are often blamed for the mess.
Another worker, Sindhu Hanvate from Shivajinagar, said her work ends at 10 a.m. but wet-waste trucks arrive only around 3–4 p.m., leaving them stranded for hours without basic facilities.
The NGO’s Lubra Anantakrishnan said PMC has begun a pilot project in Viman Nagar under “Vishwas 2025,” where garbage is directly lifted by trucks instead of waste pickers. She argued that without expanding the city’s processing capacity, mechanical collection will not work effectively. She warned that citizens will soon realize the shortcomings of the new system.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Sandeep Kadam said that while occasional delays occur due to traffic or vehicle breakdowns, garbage is collected from all locations. He said some people are deliberately spreading confusion to oppose the new system.
Kadam added that waste pickers have been included in the Viman Nagar project and improvements are ongoing. He also said that if trucks were truly late at 32% of feeder points, the entire city would be full of garbage, which is not the case, and therefore the NGO’s claims lack substance.
PMC officials also said that claims made about waste picker Sarika Ukirde are incorrect. According to the civic body, she confirmed via video call that her feeder point is not at Rajaram Bridge and that trucks arrive on time there.