Pune: Garbage Piles Up Outside Clover Centre As Standoff With PCB Enters Seventh Week; Citizens Now Seek PMC And Police Intervention

Pune, December 02, 2025: Garbage has continued to accumulate outside Pune’s busy Clover Centre in Camp since mid-October after the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) abruptly stopped lifting waste from the 550-shop complex. What began as a notice-related dispute has now stretched into more than six weeks, leaving residents, shopkeepers and workers struggling with foul smells, flies and unsafe conditions outside one of Camp’s oldest commercial hubs.

For the thousands who visit the centre each day, the growing mounds of waste have become a serious public health concern—and the community says it has been left with no choice but to escalate the matter.

How The Dispute Started

The conflict began with an October 8 notice from the PCB CEO accusing Clover Centre of dumping large quantities of clothes on public land, creating unhygienic conditions under Section 289 of the Cantonment Act. The society countered that the discarded material belonged to illegal hawkers operating outside the complex, not the society itself.

The November 20 follow-up notice from PCB reiterated that the board is responsible for collection and segregation and stated that charges are ₹500 per commercial unit and ₹50 per residential unit.
However, the society says the PCB has suddenly demanded retroactive charges from 2017—amounting to several lakhs—which they had never been informed about before.

“Garbage is piling up at our entrance every single day”

Shalan Khandekar, chairperson of the Clover Centre Society, said the community is bearing the brunt of the dispute.

“For forty years, our women staff have been collecting and handing over waste to PCB without a single issue. Now, suddenly, PCB has stopped lifting waste and expects us to pay lakhs in retrospective fees. Meanwhile, garbage is piling up at our doorsteps. How are citizens supposed to function in such conditions?”

She added:

“This crisis is affecting shopkeepers, visitors, workers—everyone. Our marketplace is turning into a health hazard, and PCB refuses to even communicate clearly.”

Residents Raise Alarm Over Health Risks

Residents say the rotting garbage has triggered a worsening mosquito problem, foul smells and concerns of infection in the densely visited area.

“We have always kept the inside of the centre clean. But when PCB stops lifting waste entirely, the whole neighbourhood suffers,” said resident Jai Narwani.

Society Also Writes to Cantonment Police

Fed up with the growing health risk and lack of response from PCB, the Clover Centre Society has formally written to the cantonment police, informing them about the health hazard caused by the unattended waste and the PCB’s failure to discharge its basic responsibility.

The letter highlights the escalating threat to public safety, especially with heavy festive and weekend footfall in the area.

Citizens Knock on PMC Commissioner’s Door

After repeated follow-ups yielded no action from PCB, residents and shopkeepers have now approached the Pune Municipal Commissioner, seeking immediate intervention.

Khandekar confirmed the step, “We are citizens of Pune too. When weeks of follow-ups with PCB led nowhere, we approached the PMC Commissioner’s office. We have appealed for a neutral and urgent intervention so the community is not punished for something we did not do.”

She added, “People here are suffering every day. This is no longer an internal dispute—it is a public health emergency. We need PMC to step in, coordinate, and ensure that waste is lifted without delay.”

Standoff Continues

Despite appeals to PCB, a written complaint to cantonment police, and a request for intervention from the PMC Commissioner, the garbage continues to pile up. The community fears the situation may worsen if authorities do not act immediately.