The Hadapsar Industrial Environmental Estate Group has already filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court, seeking removal of the garbage yard from this year. The elected members raised a major hue and cry today when the issue came up at the special board meeting held here and strongly opposed any move to shift the site located near St Patrick's Town.

The Air Force Station authorities held a meeting with the Divisional Commissioner Rajiv Agarwal and the cantonment executive officers of the Pune and Khadki cantonment boards on Wednesday to discuss the recommendations by the Airfield Environmental Management Committee which required all local bodies managing trenching grounds within the radius of 10-km of air distance from any airfield to shift in the event of a possible bird menace.

Accordingly, the committee sought information from both the cantonment boards regarding the shifting of the PCB's trenching ground beyond the airfield's sensitive 10-km zone and the KCB's trenching ground near Hotel Kalasagar in Pimpri. The committee also indicated that the fund allocation for such purpose could be done by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India.

In reply, the board's report expressed willingness to shift from its present location only if the State Government allotted land convenient to the board and if the shifting of the trenching ground to any other site was cost effective and borne by the proper authorities.

It may be mentioned here that when the matter came up for hearing in the Bombay High Court, the appellants complained that the Pune Municipal Corporation has been dumping garbage at the trenching ground.

During the meeting the divisional commissioner suggested that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) could lift the garbage on behalf of the cantonment boards on a cost sharing basis to Devachi Urali. `` The ball however is in their court,'' he said. The elected members objected to the proposal of shifting the garbage dump and suggested putting up a net across the trenching ground to prevent any bird menace. They demanded more details before a final decision could be taken by the cantonment board.

President Brig Madan Gopal still believed that the board could manage the problem on its own. Reacting to the proposal of the divisional commissioner, he said that the modalities were being worked out. Cantonment executive officer of the Khadki Cantonment Board Sauvik Majumdar stated that a decision was possible only after a meeting with the Pune Municipal Commissioner. A date is yet to be fixed for this meeting, he said, adding that the discussions which take place in the meeting will then be placed before the board for a final decision.