Special Correspondent
Pimpri Chinchwad: Residents near the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) headquarters are enduring constant tremors and sleepless nights due to frequent gelatin stick blasts taking place on an adjacent commercial construction site. The powerful explosions, occurring day and night at Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Chowk in Pimpri, have created a pit 30 to 40 feet deep and are causing significant vibrations that residents say are affecting nearby buildings, including their own, as well as Metro pillars.
Residents of Mahindra Central Life Society and MHADA Society, located within a 100-meter radius of the site, have repeatedly complained through the PCMC’s Sarathi web portal, yet no remedial action has been taken. They fear that the ongoing blasts not only jeopardize structural integrity—evidenced by cracks appearing in their relatively new building—but also pose a long-term risk to the stability of surrounding infrastructure.
Some residents have even reported instances where tremors mimicked the effects of an earthquake, causing household items to fall and prompting people to leave their homes in panic.
The use of gelatin sticks is a common practice in construction, employed to blast through rocks encountered during excavation. However, the repeated use of these explosives in a densely populated area has sparked concerns over noise, air pollution from debris-carrying vehicles, and potential structural damage. With protests, public meetings, and even police presence in the main square, residents remain anxious that nothing substantial has been done to mitigate the disruptive and potentially hazardous blasting activities.
