Pune residents may struggle to obtain soil for building traditional fort replicas during the Diwali holidays, prompting a demand for official distribution centres across the city’s administrative wards. Prashant Kanojia, chief state organiser of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena and a member of the Kothrud Citizen Forum, has asked the Pune Municipal Corporation to arrange the supply before the festival.
Children and adults traditionally build models of forts during the Diwali break. The activity is intended to introduce younger generations to the history and significance of Maharashtra’s forts, as well as the legacy associated with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the idea of swarajya. Kanojia said the lack of easily available soil could disrupt the practice in several parts of Pune.
He has proposed that the civic body establish authorised soil distribution centres within the jurisdiction of every regional office. The soil should be made available free of cost or at nominal rates to schools, community groups and children, he said. The municipal administration should also publicise the locations and operating details of the centres before Diwali.
The demand also raises a question about how Pune handles clean surplus soil generated by construction and development work. Several infrastructure and building projects are underway in the city, and Kanojia has suggested that usable excess soil from these works could be collected and supplied to residents through an organised system.
Such a system would require the soil to be assessed and collected in a manner that does not create environmental harm. The proposal calls for the municipal administration to plan the collection and distribution of suitable soil and publish the details before the festival. The report does not state that the Pune Municipal Corporation has accepted the proposal or announced any official distribution arrangement.
The issue brings together two municipal responsibilities that are usually treated separately: managing material excavated from construction sites and responding to small but visible public needs. In this case, the proposed reuse of clean surplus soil would serve a seasonal cultural activity while potentially reducing the unmanaged disposal of construction material.
Kanojia said that the availability of soil was not merely a matter of buying and selling material, but was linked to a cultural and historical tradition. His demands include authorised centres in every regional office area, environmentally responsible collection of clean surplus construction soil, affordable or free access for schools and children, and public communication of the distribution plan before Diwali.
