E-Paper
Punekars rue poor services, absentee civic staff
PMC offices officially operate five days a week from 9:45 am to 6:15 pm. However, citizens claim staff routinely arrive after 10 am, while senior officials often turn up only after 11:30 am. By 5 pm, most offices are deserted, leaving residents helpless and angry
Rampant absenteeism and poor service delivery across the 15 regional ward offices of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have triggered outrage, with citizens accusing the administration of negligence and lack of accountability.
These ward offices—tasked with delivering essential civic services and addressing public grievances—are often found understaffed during official working hours.
A petition submitted by a citizens’ forum to the state government on June 26 alleges that senior officials are being misled through falsified attendance registers and manipulation of biometric systems. It also accuses PMC staff of collusion to preserve a dysfunctional work culture at the cost of public service.
PMC offices officially operate five days a week from 9:45 am to 6:15 pm. However, citizens claim staff routinely arrive after 10 am, while senior officials often turn up only after 11:30 am. By 5 pm, most offices are deserted, leaving residents helpless and angry.
Sanjeev Kumar Patil, director of the Wagholi Housing Societies Association (WHSA) and a civic activist, highlighted the non-functioning of the Ahmednagar Road regional ward office. “Despite repeated requests over the past three years, active citizens have not been included in the ward’s WhatsApp group for grievance redressal. We even submitted a request to the PMC commissioner, but there has been no action,” he said.
Patil also pointed to the absence of basic infrastructure at the office. “There’s no proper seating, no punctuality, no grievance redressal system—just a complete administrative collapse,” he said. Even for basic tasks like obtaining birth or death certificates, citizens reportedly need to visit the ward office five or six times due to delays and non-responsiveness from staff.
Jayant Mone, a Kothrud resident, shared a similar experience. “For the past week, I’ve been visiting the ward office to pay my property tax, but the Citizen Facilitation Centre is always unmanned. There’s no system, no connectivity, and no accountability.”
With the June 30 property tax payment deadline approaching, footfall has increased, but inadequate infrastructure and staff support have worsened the situation. “We want the government’s ‘Sarkar Aplya Dari’ scheme to be implemented in letter and spirit. This outdated ward office system is failing us. Worse, the staff is rude and arrogant,” Mone added.
In response, PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said, “We are about to launch a citizen outreach programme to directly engage with residents and resolve their issues. All necessary steps will be taken to ensure hassle-free service delivery.”
