Jalgaon: ABVP protest over garbage depot outside ITI ends with written civic assurance

Students in Jalgaon were forced onto the streets to demand removal of the garbage depot opposite the ITI. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, or ABVP, launched a sit-in protest, after which the municipal corporation administration finally took notice. The protest began at 9:30 am and students remained seated until 1 pm, raising slogans and holding placards. The scale of the protest brought the mayor and the commissioner to the spot.

Given the seriousness of the protest, Mayor Deepmala Kale, Deputy Mayor Manoj Chaudhary, Standing Committee chairman Dr Chandrashekhar Patil, Commissioner Aditya Jivane, Additional Commissioner Shobha Baviskar, Deputy Commissioner Nirmala Gaikwad, City Engineer Yogesh Borole, health department official Sameer Borole, and corporators Vishal Bhole and Arvind Deshmukh all reached the spot outside the ITI. They spoke with the students and heard their grievances, after which the situation eased somewhat.

The placards held by the students read: a clean surrounding is a student's right, remove the garbage and save the ITI, and let the municipal corporation sit here for an hour. Passersby stopped to watch the protest. So much garbage piles up outside the ITI that it has become difficult for students to even sit there, with a foul smell and fear of disease spreading.

The protest was attended by state minister Dr Varunraj Nannaware, metro minister Aryan Bhalshankar, metro joint secretary Manoj Kumbhar, Ishwari Joshi, Snehal Mahajan, Amarsingh Rajput and Varad Pandharkar among several ABVP workers, along with a large number of students.

After the protest, Commissioner Aditya Jivane gave ABVP a written assurance. He said 80 percent of the work on the new garbage transfer centre at the TB Sanitorium has been completed, with the remaining work to be finished in 30 days. He said if the contractor delayed the work, legal action would be taken against the contractor and the project management consultant.

Until the new centre is ready, the old centre near the ITI will continue to operate, but it will be cleaned more thoroughly, the commissioner said. Handcarts dumping garbage along the highway will be acted against, and notices will be issued to those concerned regarding cleanliness of the ITI premises.

The commissioner had initially said the work would be completed and the garbage depot shut in one and a half months, but the students did not agree and demanded a 15-day deadline instead. Mayor Deepmala Kale and Deputy Mayor Manoj Chaudhary then intervened. The mayor said this was her own ward and that if the spot was not shut within a month, she herself would join the students in the protest, and agreed to give a written assurance on that basis.

Following the mayor's assurance, the students withdrew the protest with a warning that if the garbage was not removed within 30 days, they would dump it themselves at the municipal corporation office on the 31st day.

After the protest, Deputy Mayor Manoj Chaudhary immediately called a meeting and reviewed work on the ramp at the TB centre. It was decided to complete the ramp work within a month and shift the garbage depot there permanently. Chaudhary directed City Engineer Yogesh Borole, project engineer Yogesh Vani and project management consultancy officials to speed up the work starting the next day. Corporator Amar Jain was also present at the meeting. It remains to be seen whether the garbage depot is actually removed within a month.