Pune: Seven RMC Plants Choke Bavdhan; Citizens Accuse Authorities of Negligence
Bavdhan, 29th October 2025: Residents of Bavdhan have accused the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), and the District Collector’s Office of turning a blind eye to seven illegal ready-mix concrete (RMC) plants allegedly operating within residential and defence-sensitive zones in the area.
According to local residents, these RMC units have been functioning for several months without mandatory environmental permissions, causing severe air pollution and health hazards for over 10,000 citizens in the vicinity.
Despite numerous written complaints — including over 25 emails, 35 follow-ups, and several formal letters — residents claim that authorities have failed to take decisive action. “Officials issue hollow notices, conduct superficial site visits, and then close files without any real enforcement,” said a Bavdhan resident, calling the situation a “paper-pushing circus.”
Residents further alleged that during an air quality inspection by an MPCB monitoring van, the RMC operators deliberately sprayed water near the vehicle to artificially lower pollution readings. However, no corrective action was taken by the authorities despite the incident being reported.
Environmental activist and lawyer Adv. Krunnal Gharre, who has received multiple complaints from across Pune, criticized the official apathy.
“It’s not the citizens’ job to control illegal RMC plants. It’s disheartening that people must beg for their right to breathe clean air while authorities behave like Gandhiji’s monkeys — not by blocking evil, but by supporting it. We now have enough evidence to prove deliberate inaction, and a legal case will be filed soon,” Gharre said.
Residents allege that the continued silence of MPCB and PMRDA amounts not to mere inefficiency but to wilful negligence, allowing environmental violations to persist unchecked.
Civic activists have demanded immediate closure of all illegal RMC units in Bavdhan and stricter monitoring of pollution levels to safeguard public health and environmental safety.
