The day-long workshop, which will incur an expenditure of more than Rs two lakh, has come under the scanner of civic activists who criticised the PCMC administration. (Express/Representational)As many as 70 officials and employees of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have gone to the tourist town of Lonavala for a workshop being organised by the civic body on “Swachch Survekshan, 2023″.
The day-long workshop, which will incur an expenditure of more than Rs two lakh, has come under the scanner of civic activists who criticised the PCMC administration. The activists argue that PCMC should have held the workshop at any of its premises instead of splurging public money at a tourist town.
Justifying the workshop in Lonavala, Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane told The Indian Express, “Since Lonavala has been ranked as the top city on the cleanliness front, we thought it would be appropriate to hold the day-long workshop there. Officials and employees involved in the cleanliness mission will be given training in tool-kit employed for cleanliness purposes in the city.”
Dhakane said besides training, officials and employees would be going around the city to witness first-hand the steps taken by the Lonavala civic body which resulted in the town getting the top rank in cleanliness in the country.
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Civic activist Manav Kamble said PCMC has declared four days’ holiday for schools in view of the heavy rain and issued alert to the citizens living along the rivers. “At a time when officials and employees are required to tackle any emerging situation, what is the need for them to go out of the city? Instead of going to Lonavala and splurging funds, the PCMC administration could have used any of its premises where more than 100 and even 500 employees at one time can be accommodated,” Kamble said.
Another civic activist Maruti Bhapkar said, “As per information put out by the civic administration, the PCMC will spend around Rs 2.5 lakh on the Lonavala trip. Whose money is this? This is public money and does not belong to any official. Why should they splurge public money? The purpose it seems is to enjoy the famous monsoon of Lonavala where people from across the country descend every year. This is a shrewd way to beat the laid down norms.”
Bhapkar said Lonavala is much smaller than Pimpri-Chinchwad. “Instead of Lonavala learning from PCMC, PCMC is trying to learn from Lonavala. It is like an adult learning from a child. This is actually an embarrassment for PCMC,” he said.
Civic officials said during the day-long workshop which is being held at a posh hotel, tea, breakfast, lunch will be served to the 70-odd officials and employees.
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