Pune: The state govt on Monday constituted a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the July 8 Moshi waste-to-energy plant tragedy where a huge mound of legacy waste collapsed on the administrative building of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), killing nine people.The committee will submit a preliminary report within a month and a final report, along with recommendations and accountability, in two months. The order comes days after CM Devendra Fadnavis said that a detailed inquiry will be conducted once the rescue operation concludes.The complex operation to recover nine people trapped beneath the precariously tilted building lasted for 84 hours, and all were found dead when it was over on Sunday.The five-member committee will be headed by divisional commissioner Sheetal Teli-Ugle and include the regional officer of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), IIT Bombay geotechnical and structural engineering expert D N Singh, environmental and solid waste management expert Anil Kumar Dixit, as members and the assistant commissioner of PCMC’s disaster management department, who will serve as the member secretary.According to the government resolution issued by the urban development department, the committee will conduct a comprehensive technical, administrative and scientific inquiry.It will identify the immediate and root causes, examine geotechnical, geological, hydrological and meteorological factors behind the collapse of the garbage, including groundwater conditions, soil-bearing capacity and overall landfill management. The panel will assess whether the landfill’s height, slope stability, waste storage practices and safety measures complied with prescribed technical standards and guidelines.The probe will scrutinise the location, design, structural stability and suitability of the collapsed administrative building, besides verifying compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, CPHEEO guidelines, CPCB and MPCB norms, environmental clearance conditions and standard operating procedures governing such projects.The panel will investigate whether officials, contractors or project management agencies received prior complaints or warnings about land subsidence, movement of the landfill slope, rain-related risks or any other potential hazards through emails, WhatsApp messages, photographs or other records, and whether any preventive or corrective measures were taken.In addition, the committee will recommend short-term and long-term measures to improve landfill management, slope stabilisation, administrative building safety, rainwater management, risk assessment, early warning systems and disaster prevention mechanisms at waste processing facilities.Meanwhile, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation initiated disciplinary action on Monday. Municipal commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi removed city engineer and environment department head Sanjay Kulkarni, along with executive engineer Yogesh Alhat, from their posts with immediate effect. He also issued show-cause notices to both officers, directing them to submit their replies by Tuesday.Suryawanshi said that a preliminary inquiry revealed that officials from the enviornment department misguided seniors and incorrect information was shared about the distance of the building from the garbage mound and construction permission.“We have initiated the process to register an FIR in the matter against the company officials as preliminary inquiry points to negligence at their part as well,” he said.City engineer Pramod Ombhase has been given additional charge of the environment department while executive engineer Soham Nikam will take over Alhat’s responsibilities.Suryawanshi alleged that Kulkarni and Alhat, who were responsible for overseeing the Moshi waste-to-energy project, failed to ensure adequate supervision and implementation of safety measures at the depot, leading to the fatal accident.The notices accused the two officers of misleading senior PCMC officials by furnishing incorrect information regarding the distance between the collapsed administrative building and the legacy waste mound, as well as the building’s construction approvals.“With regard to the RCC building, records show that under the original proposal of 2011, administrative approval was granted for construction of an administrative building at a distance of 30m from the sanitary landfill, with a built-up area of 244sqm. However, under the revised proposal in 2023, permission was granted only for ground-floor construction (built-up area 500.92sqm), and the building was constructed at a distance of only 12m from the SLF,” the notice stated.It also appears that the company constructed the first and second floors without obtaining the required approvals. No completion certificate has been issued for this unauthorised construction, it added.Suryawanshi said it was Kulkarni and Alhat’s duty to verify whether the construction complied with the approved plan and to bring any deviations to the notice of senior authorities, but they failed.
