Mayor cancels appointments of 60 ex-military personnel over harassment allegations during waste segregation drive

Nashik: Mayor Himgauri Aher on Friday ordered the cancellation of appointments of 60 ex‑military personnel who had been deployed by the municipal corporation to curb littering and enforce waste segregation. The decision followed complaints from several corporators during the general body meeting, alleging that these personnel were harassing residents and forcibly collecting fines.The ex-servicemen had been appointed on an honorarium basis through the anti‑encroachment department. Announcing their immediate removal, the mayor said although the city respected former military personnel, their method of collecting fines had caused public dissatisfaction. "They may be considered for self‑defence‑related roles, if needed," the mayor said.She directed that only sanitary inspectors should impose fines on residents who failed to segregate wet and dry waste before handing it over to garbage collection vans. "The civic administration must first conduct an extensive awareness campaign across the city, targeting students, citizens and senior residents, and distribute proper literature on waste segregation," she said.Aher also told officials to take action against large housing societies that were failing to process waste within their premises, as required under building norms.The decision came after corporators recounted several incidents of misuse of authority by the deployed personnel. Corporator Shahu Khaire said a case in which an ex-serviceman allegedly collected a Rs 5,000 fine from a hotelier for contributing to a black spot, along with instances of women on Gangapur Road being wrongly fined for not segregating waste. Corporators Gurumit Bagga, Shailesh Dhage, Ajay Boraste, Pravin Tidme, and others also shared similar complaints from the residents.Earlier, the corporators had raised concerns about the poor condition of city roads due to digging by various utility agencies, including Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL), as well as irregular water supply in several areas.Mayor Aher announced that a special general body meeting would be convened to discuss issues such as damaged roads, water supply irregularities, and other civic matters.The discussion also covered the ongoing recruitment for 300 posts — 114 engineering positions across departments and 186 posts for the fire brigade. The written examinations for these posts are being held at 29 centres across 19 cities in Maharashtra, including Nashik, Pune and Kolhapur. Some corporators demanded that the exams be conducted only in Nashik and that local youth be given preference. A few even sought cancellation of the current exams in favour of conducting them locally. NMC commissioner Manisha Khatri, however, said the recruitment process was being conducted according to govt norms. The mayor also highlighted the urgency of recruiting technical staff in view of the upcoming Kumbh Mela, with less than a year and a half remaining to complete related works.