During the event, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and Deputy Mayor Siddharth Dhende had allegedly violated protocol.
The district administration has warned the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that it needed to strictly follow protocol while hosting high-profile guests like the President and the Vice-President, Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said on Tuesday.
The collector said during an event attended by President Ram Nath Kovind in Pune in May, protocol was violated several times. The President’s Office had reportedly conveyed this to the relevant authorities in the administration, following which an inquiry was initiated.
On May 31, President Kovind had attended an event organised by the PMC , where he had inaugurated a statue of Ramabai Ambedkar, wife of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, in Camp area. During the event, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and Deputy Mayor Siddharth Dhende had allegedly violated protocol.
Ram said his office was yet to receive a report about the incident from the PMC. “I am supposed to submit the report on Tuesday evening…,” said the district collector. Ram said his office had made it clear to PMC officials that if such incidents take place again, the PMC might not be able to host such high-profile guests for its events in the future.
“Soon after the event, we had conveyed to the PMC that following a protocol for high-profile guests like the President and Vice President was a must… We had told them that if they don’t follow protocol in the future, we might have to keep such guests away from their programmes,” said Ram.