Pune: Moshi WtE Plant Fails To Meet Sept 30 Restart Deadline, Contractor Fined Rs 50,000 Daily By PCMC
Pimpri Chinchwad, 3rd October 2026: The waste-to-energy plant at the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) Moshi dump yard has remained shut for four months after its chimney collapsed, adding to the city’s mounting waste disposal woes.
The civic body has started imposing a Rs 50,000 daily penalty on the contractor from October 1 for failing to restart the plant within the extended deadline.
The plant, operated by Antony Lara Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd on a DBOT basis since July 2023, processes around 700 tonnes of dry waste daily to generate 14MW of electricity.
The chimney collapsed on June 5, forcing the plant to shut down. PCMC commissioner Dr Vijay Suryawanshi subsequently directed the contractor to restore the facility at the earliest. The company had assured the civic administration that the chimney would be rebuilt by September 30 and the plant would resume full-capacity operations from October 1. However, the work was not completed within the deadline.
PCMC has now begun recovering the penalty as the continued closure has contributed to the accumulation of waste at the 81-acre Moshi dump yard, where the civic body is already facing limited capacity.
The waste crisis worsened after the collapse of an administrative building at the depot on July 8, which killed nine employees and injured 12. The city’s waste management system has been under strain since then, with elected representatives and residents demanding urgent measures.
Under the agreement, the contractor is responsible for increasing the plant’s capacity over its 21-year contract period based on the city’s growing waste generation. However, the plant has continued to generate only 14MW and process around 700 tonnes of dry waste daily since it became operational, according to the PCMC environment engineering department.
