Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation logs 4,000 plaints, requests in 12 days

Civic body’s health sanitation and solutions platform on Facebook already has 1,000 members

The main complaints PCMC received include mosquito menace, garbage, overflowing dustbins, issues regarding manholes, and water hyacinth.(HT FILE)

The use of social media by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to address issues affecting residents has received good response. The initiative has helped in building community and catalysing neighbourhood cooperation and social action.

Dr Anil Roy, medical health officer of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, claims to have received more than 4,000 requests and complaints since the launch of a forum on social media (Facebook) aimed at improving health and sanitation of the city 12 days ago.

The 12-day-old forum — PCMC health sanitation and solutions — has already crossed the 1,000 member mark. Roy said that the nature of complaints and requests submitted by residents online have not been received by the civic body in the past many years.

The main complaints the PCMC chief received include mosquito menace, garbage, overflowing dustbin, overflowing manholes and water hyacinth.

“The forum was formed in order to engage people and improve the health and sanitation scenario in PCMC. We never came across such a large number of complaints ever and the platform has made it easier for us to interact with citizens and know their problems,” said Roy.

The civic official said that more than 50 per cent of citizens complained of mosquito menace and hence fogging and spraying was immediately carried out in the affected areas. “Other complaints were related to garbage and overflowing dustbins and manholes. We were told about water hyacinth menace and are getting it all cleared,” he said.

“Water hyacinth is a major problem as it leads to water stagnation and causes infection and breeding of mosquitoes. Hence, removal of the same remains the only choice. Lastly, there are many complaints related to failure of door-to-door waste collection which too we are sorting now,” Roy said.

According to the official, residents also filed issues related to plastic waste and use of plastic bags. “A review was conducted and we noticed that there were many vendors that used plastic bags. We collected a fine of Rs 1,60,000 in 10 days from the offenders,” he said.

“We plan to take the initiative to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and suggest them to participate largely in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.”