From Bavdhan to Bopodi: PMC Plans to Shift Rs 1.5-Crore Animal Incinerator After 3 Years
Pune, 3rd June 2026: Three years after the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) constructed a ₹1.5-crore animal carcass incinerator at Bavdhan, the facility remains unused. With the Forest Department refusing permission to cremate dead animals at the site, the civic body has now decided to relocate the entire project to Bopodi at an additional cost of ₹50 lakh.
A proposal seeking approval for the relocation has been placed before the Standing Committee. However, the move has raised concerns because the proposed site at the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Bopodi is surrounded by a densely populated residential area. If local residents oppose the project, PMC’s investment of ₹1.5 crore, along with the additional relocation cost, could once again go to waste.
PMC had built the incinerator on Forest Department land at Bavdhan to ensure the scientific disposal of animal carcasses generated across Pune. The facility was also intended to serve rescued animals housed at the nearby Baner Rescue Centre. Although the project was constructed with the Forest Department’s approval, the department later declined permission to use it for disposing of animal carcasses from across the city.
The Forest Department has maintained that operating the incinerator could affect wildlife in the surrounding forest area and has asked PMC to shift the facility elsewhere. Following this objection, the civic body has proposed relocating the project to the STP premises at Bopodi.
Currently, PMC operates two animal incinerators at Naidu Hospital. However, their limited capacity prompted the civic body to plan three additional facilities at Bavdhan, Mundhwa, and the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Katraj. Of these, only the Bavdhan project has been completed, but it has remained idle since construction.
Repeated Planning Failures
The Bavdhan project is not an isolated case. In 2015, PMC installed another animal carcass incinerator at the Uruli Devachi garbage depot at a cost of around ₹3 crore. The project was later stalled following protests by villagers during the waste management agitation.
PMC subsequently shifted the facility to Mundhwa, but it could not be commissioned because the site fell within the River Regulation Zone (RRZ), where such a facility was not permitted under environmental regulations. The matter is also pending before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), and the project has remained non-operational for over a decade.
The repeated setbacks have raised questions about PMC’s planning and site selection process. Despite spending crores of rupees on animal carcass disposal infrastructure, the civic body has repeatedly failed to ensure that these projects become operational, resulting in delays, additional expenditure, and the wastage of public funds.
