The peacock had died on August 2 evening. PMC's assistant garden superintendent B G Mane had claimed that the lone blue peacock at the zoo had died of old age.

However, Nanajkar claimed that a visit to the zoo by him and his friend Vilas Pansare had revealed that the peacock died after inhaling the vapours of oil paint sprayed on the grill of his cage.

Nanajkar said a new grill has been installed at the cage recently. The animals and birds in the cage were not shifted before undertaking the work of painting the grill with a spray gun, he alleged.

The hares in the cage hid in their holes and the birds flew high in a bid to save themselves as the vapours of the paint filled the entire case, Nanajkar claimed. However, he added, the blue peacock failed to protect himself as he could not fly.

Nanajkar alleged that the blue peacock had suffered a epileptic fit while the painting work was going on. He alleged that the painters tried in vain to contact garden superintendent Yashwant Khaire before calling up the officials at Peshwe Park zoo. However, he added that the peacock had died before veterinary doctor Kazveen Umrigar could reach the zoo.

City on way to becoming clean?
Even as a sizeable amount of Rs 27,7016 was collected as fines from a host of people for not clearing the garbage within a fortnight, the PMC has clearly intensified its ``clean the city'' campaign by providing ``encouragement allowance'' to its labour staff for a faster sprucing up of the environs.

The civic administration is reportedly leaving no stone unturned in its collection of garbage within 24 hours and have drafted out various schemes for the purpose including imposing fines. The fortnight long drive saw nearly 161 lottery centres, 937 businessmen, 692 builders and around 596 people being fined for spitting and not collecting their garbage.

Nearly 800 tonnes of garbage is generated on a daily basis in the city out of which the PMC manages to dispose off 650 -700 tonnes via containers and to and fro trips made by the trucks to the garbage depot. In order to facilitate a speedy disposal of the garbage, the PMC has decided to replace the existing containers with barrels in each ward. While 72 barrels have been provided the Pune Municipal Transport will give another 1000, an official statement stated today.

Arrangements have been made to transport the garbage wardwise to the new ramp at Hadapsar Industrial Estate. Encouragement allowance will be provided to the labour staff who can collect the extra sum for working beyond the required hours. For instance a driver gains an extra sum of Rs 25 to 60 for every trip to the garbage dump while bulk carrier drivers stand to gain an additional Rs 100.