Merged villages: Corporators blame PMC admin for failure to provide basic amenities
Corporators said that with 11 villages earlier and 23 villages more recently having been merged in PMC, their expectations had gone up and they were hoping for good water supply, garbage management and other basic infrastructure in these villages
PUNE: Elected members across parties spoke in favour of the villages merged with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at the general body meeting held on Tuesday. They blamed the civic administration for its failure to provide basic services to the residents of these villages.
The corporators said that with 11 villages earlier and 23 villages more recently having been merged with the PMC, their expectations had gone up and they were hoping for good water supply, garbage management and other basic infrastructure in these villages. However, despite instructions to the administration to provide basic services, it was dragging its feet on the matter.
BJP corporator Dilip Vede Patil said, “Many citizens are demanding adequate water supply but the civic body is not able to provide it. It is unable even to get possession of properties from the zilla parishad.”
MNS corporator Vasant More said, “As the villages were merged, we immediately starting the process of collecting tax. If we are collecting tax, it is our responsibility to also provide basic services.”
NCP corporator and opposition leader Deepali Dhumal said, “The administration needs to carry out basic works from the departmental budget. If we are not able to provide basic services, we should stop collecting taxes.”
Meanwhile, BJP corporator and leader of the house Ganesh Bidkar said, “We are trying to give justice to the merged villages. The PMC has provided Rs5 crore for road works and Rs12 crore for various developmental works. It is also the state government’s responsibility to provide funds for creating infrastructure in these areas. The PMC has earmarked Rs72 crore from its annual budget for these newly merged areas.”