PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has approved the appointment of a consultancy firm to raise the ranking of the Pune corporation in Swachh Survekshan (survey), which has been carried out nationwide under the Swachh Bharat Mission scheme. On Tuesday, the Standing Committee sanctioned a tender of Rs 35 lakh to give to KPMG consultancy firm.
The survey is part of the Union government’s Swachh Bharat Mission scheme. The results of the study will be used to select the cleanest city in the country. When asked about the need for a consultancy firm for Swachh Bharat Mission scheme, Chairman of Standing Committee Yogesh Mulik said, “Consultancy is needed to improve the performance of the city’s ranking in Swachh Survekshan. It is a third party audit of PMC’s work on cleanliness.”
The civic body, for the first time, is appointing a consultancy firm for Swachh Survekshan. While speaking to Sakal Times, Dnyaneshwar Molak, Head of Solid Waste Management Department of PMC, said, “KPMG is already providing consultancy to the State and other municipal corporations. It is the first time that PMC is hiring them. They will help the civic body to improve their rating in Survekshan with proper documentation and will give suggestions to enhance their work. They will also conduct a third party audit of PMC cleanliness work to give suggestions.”
Pune had climbed three ranks in the rankings, which were declared in June 2018. It had made it to the list of top 10 clean cities in the country. The ranking was noted as the city’s best performance in the ranking in the last three years. In 2017, Pune was ranked 13 and it was in 11th place in 2016. The Union government, as part of its initiatives, ranks the cities on various parameters to find out the cleanest city in the country.
ACTION AGAINST 13 PMC STAFFERS
After taking action on more than 2,000 people, PMC has focused on their own employees. On Tuesday, it conducted an anti-spitting drive in the corporation premises and took action against 13 employees. The PMC fined them and collected around Rs 1,500 from the offenders. Madhav Jagtap, Head of Anti-encroachment Department, said, “Now, we have started an anti-spitting drive in PMC offices. All employees are Class III and IV employees. We have found that employees are spitting in the building premises. We have decided to intensify action in the office premises not only on the employees but also on visitors.”
