Fergusson's botanical garden becomes dumping ground

College authorities write to civic body, ask it to look into issue, say constant accumulation of refuse hindering plans to start new facilities

For botany students of Fergusson College, field research has become a stinky affair, thanks to the restaurant owners and residents nearby who have been using the institute's botanical garden to dump waste.


Waste matter: Restaurant owners and residents dump garbage at the
botanical garden of Fergusson College. Pic/Jignesh Mistry

For almost six years, the botanical garden next to Ferguson College Road has been used as a dumping ground for filth, which includes plastic bags, stale food items and electrical hardware such as tubelights.

College authorities said that even though they had put up a fence around the garden, it had not deterred restaurant owners, residents and their servants from executing their audacious act.u00a0

The garden, which is an important research area for students, has various kinds of plants and flowers, indispensable for a comprehensive study of plant life. Even after several letters and notices to the restaurant owners and nearby residents, there has been no let-up. On the contrary, the dumping of waste has increased over the years.

"We wrote a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation authorities a few months ago and are now awaiting action," said Dr R B Pardeshi, principal of Fergusson College.

Growth plans
Pardeshi said the college had some new plans for the garden, and so it was imperative the defiling of its land be stopped. "We want to start additional facilities at the garden for research purposes," he said. "This should commence in four to five months," Pardeshi said.