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Six Baner gardens to be handed over to private contractors for upkeep, maintenance
The tender notice has sparked sharp reactions from civic activists who claim that this is but the first step towards complete privatisation of public gardens in the near future
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to transfer six public gardens located in the Baner and Balewadi areas to private contractors for upkeep and maintenance. Currently, the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) governs the six gardens. Chief executive officer (CEO) of PSCDCL, Dr Sanjay Kolte, in a tender notice stated that four public gardens in Baner and two in Balewadi will be handed over to private contractors for upkeep and maintenance. However, the tender notice has sparked sharp reactions from civic activists who claim that this is but the first step towards complete privatisation of public gardens in the near future.
There are 210 gardens under the aegis of the PMC which are directly supervised by the garden department. These public gardens have been set up on amenity spaces of various residential societies wherein the taxpayers have paid full consideration for public utilities such as parks, gardens, police stations, hospitals and suchlike. Activists claim that the decision to handover the six gardens to private contractors has come at a time when the civic body is giving concessions to senior citizens and the physically handicapped on the garden entry fees. They are worried that visitors may be exploited by charging them heavy fees.
Prominent civil rights activist Qaneez Sukhrani said, “The PSCDCL is part of the PMC. This is going to play out in a sequence where first, there will be tenders for various gardens, fitness centres etc. followed by the handing over of other public spaces to private entities. What ails our government bodies that they cannot protect reserved spaces from being grabbed.”
Sajak Nagrik Manch president Vivek Velankar said, “Will the PSCDCL take responsibility if the contractors are found overcharging visitors to these gardens. The public gardens on amenity spaces are the citizens’ community properties and should not be privatised. Currently, these facilities are running on taxpayers’ money and it is a fundamental civic amenity for the citizens and must not be privatised at any cost.”
Former area corporator Amol Balwadkar said, “We will not allow privatisation of public gardens and the issue will be brought to the notice of district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil. The step taken by PSCDCL will lead to overcharging and exploitation of Punekars. The garden department and not private entities must look after the maintenance and upkeep of citizens’ gardens.”
Former IT commissioner A J Khan said, “Senior citizens, students and other categories of citizens enjoy gardens free-of-cost. These gardens must be handed over to the PMC garden department and not given to any private contractor as that will lead to overcharging and taxpayers will have to shell out an extra amount for what is essentially a free leisure activity. The tendering process must be immediately terminated and the assets must be handed over to the garden department.” Meanwhile, the PSCDCL has stated that the six gardens will be handed over for a fixed period of five years.
Box
Senior citizens’ garden located in survey number 38/1 at Baner
Fitness and Kayakalp Garden located in survey number 26/3 at Baner
Environmental Garden located in survey number 36/4 at Balewadi
Renau Garden located in survey number 135 at Baner
Energise Garden located in survey number 140 at Baner
Special individuals’ garden located in survey numbers 3/5 and 2/6 at Balewadi
