PUNE: The police
department owes Rs 38.15 lakh in rental arrears to the Pimpri Chinchwad
Municipal Corporation (PCMC). The civic body has given its properties to
the police department on rent for the offices of the deputy
commissioner of police (DCP), police stations and police chowkies.

The information was revealed by the municipal corporation on an RTI application filed by MNS leader Raju Savale.

The PCMC
has leased out its properties for the office of deputy commissioner of
police (DCP) crime branch unit III and DCP zone III. The traffic police
chowkies of Pimpri and Nigdi operate from the tenements of the Meghaji
Lokhande Kamgar Bhavan, which is owned by the municipal corporation.
Similarly, civic properties have been given to Charholi and Bhosari
police chowkies and the Kasarwadi traffic police chowkey.

However, no rental agreement has been signed between the municipal
corporation and the police for the three police chowkies at Charholi,
Bhosari and Kasarwadi. The Sangvi police
station operates from 12 shops reserved for vegetable market at Sai
chowk. The Sangvi police chowkey operates from two rooms of watchmen
quarters located inside the Dinosaur garden at Pimple Gurav.

The police department owes rental arrears totaling Rs 17.68 lakh for the
properties rented to the Sangvi police station and the chowkey. Savale
has asked the municipal corporation to recover the dues from the police
department.

Additional PCMC commissioner Prakash Kadam said,
“The police department provides bandobast to the anti-encroachment
squads for which the civic body has to pay them. The police department
owes money to the PCMC as well. So discussions are on with the officials
of the Pune police commissioner office to adjust the rental arrears of
the police with the amount that needs to be paid by the PCMC for the
bandobast it has provided so far.”