Chikhali-Kudalwadi scrapyard a fire hotspot with 218 incidents in 5 years

Hub is home to over 10,000 scrap processing and storage units and sees an annual turnover of ₹800 to ₹1,000 crore

- Nadeem Inamdar

PUNE: The Chikhali-Kudalwadi scrap hub spread over 30 acres in Pimpri-Chinchwad-one of Maharashtra's largest, and second only to Mumbai in scale-has emerged as one of the state's major fire-prone areas with the fire brigade recording 218 major fire incidents over the past five years.

The hub is home to over 10,000 scrap processing and storage units-ranging from large godowns to smaller operations-and sees an annual turnover of ₹800 to ₹1,000 crore. A visit to the area reveals that the godowns are crammed into narrow lanes, barely allowing even a single heavy vehicle to pass. Scrap materials-including iron, plastic barrels, cardboard, and various other plastics-are transported from industrial areas like Bhosari, Talegaon, and Chakan Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The materials are cleaned, processed and stored here until prices rise but the stockpile of chemical-coated plastics makes the area highly susceptible to fires, especially during summer.

According to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) fire department, most of the storage units here operate illegally, lacking fire safety and pollution control measures mandated by the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the Fire Act, and the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) Act. This kind of unregulated growth has come at a significant cost with the PCMC fire brigade's records showing a steady rise in fire incidents: 30 in 2020, 41 in 2021, 44 in 2022, 58 in 2023, and 45 in 2024.