Soon, microchips to ‘keep a watch’ on PCMC officials

AT A General Body meeting on Wednesday, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) decided that microchips will be installed in its officials’ uniforms. The announcement didn’t come as a surprise to the officials, as a similar decision was taken during the mock General Body meeting of the civic body, which was held on PCMC’s 35th Foundation Day. During the mock meeting, officials had donned the role of corporators and vice versa amid much laughter and jest, even as the meeting concluded with a song from Sairat.

Mayor Nitin Kalje took over the role of the municipal commissioner, while Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar donned Kalje’s role. Deputy Mayor Shailaja More took over the duties of the additional municipal commissioner. Standing Committee Chairperson Seema Savale became chief auditor, while House leader Eknath Pawar was the municipal secretary. Chief Accountant Raje Lande was seen donning the role of the Standing Committee chairperson and Joint City Engineer Pravin Tupe acted as the House leader. Joint Municipal Commissioner Dilip Gawde took over the role of the opposition leader.

There were six items on the agenda of the mock General Body meeting, of which six were approved.

Soon after the meeting started, Tupe directed the municipal secretary — in this case Eknath Pawar — to stand and speak. Rajesh Lande raised the issue of official uniforms, stating that department heads had turned up without the official uniforms. Ulhas Jagtap, who is PCMC’s municipal secretary and was playing the role of a corporator, tried to ‘corner’ the municipal commissioner — Nitin Kalje.

Lande, who was playing the role of the Standing Committee chairperson, raised the question of installing CCTV cameras. He asked, “Why are you giving the work of installing CCTV cameras without inviting tenders…why was the issue not brought before the Standing Committee?”
Corporator Sheetal Shinde, who was playing the role of stores in charge, revealed that instead of CCTV cameras, microchips were being purchased to be installed in the uniforms of officials.

During the mock meeting, relaxation in various rules of the civic body was also discussed.