Pimpri-Chinchwad: Pending for 9 months, mechanised sweeping plan cleared by administrator in his first meeting

In his first meeting on Tuesday after taking over as the PCMC administrator, Rajesh Patil gave a green signal for the plan, which was opposed by the ruling dispensation and kept in abeyance for months before the term of civic body expired earlier this month.

Giving details of the plan, PCMC health and medical chief Dr Anil Roy said, “The administrator’s plan for mechanised sweeping had been held up for over nine months due to opposition by the ruling party. The proposal was brought before the civic body meeting nine months earlier. However, it was not approved then. Later, the ruling party ‘adjourned’ the proposal for five months and kept in abeyance.”

Dr Roy said as per the plan, two private agencies will be appointed for mechanised sweeping of the industrial city’s roads. “Sweeping will take place only on roads with a width of 18 metres. The mechanised sweeping work will be carried out on a total of 670 km of roads.”

“The city has been divided into two halves — North and South. One private agency will look after North while another will take care of South area,” he added.

The private agencies will be awarded a contract worth Rs 362 crore for a period of seven years. A tender process will be initiated to pick the two private agencies for the purpose.

Dr Roy said currently, the work is being carried out occasionally. “No special staff has been designated for sweeping the city roads. Our conservancy staff, which is involved in sweeping the internal roads in suburbs, has been doing the job once in 15 days on major roads,” he said.

The BJP, however, denied the allegations that it held up the mechanised sweeping plan for nine months. “It is wrong to say that we did not approve the plan. We had objected to the total length of the roads where the sweeping work was to be undertaken and the amount to be given to the contractor. The administrator has addressed the issue. Earlier, they had put out a proposal for sweeping of 928 km of roads. Now, they have reduced it to 670 km. Similarly, they have brought down the contract amount from Rs 463 crore to Rs 362 crore. Therefore, we have no objections to the new plan,” said Namdeo Dhake, who was BJP’s house leader in PCMC.

Former BJP corporator Seema Savale said,”Our party had strongly objected to the mechanised sweeping plan on 6-metre wide road. This was because it was difficult to place the machineries on such smaller roads. We had insisted that the plan be implemented only on wider roads like those which are 18-metre wide. The administrator has accepted our suggestion.”