The Times of India           08.10.2010

Environ conservation officer for PCMC

PUNE: The environment engineering cell of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will now be headed by an independent officer. Till date, it was looked after by the medical department.

The PCMC had sent a proposal to the state government for creating the new post in December last year. The state government recently approved the appointment of an executive engineer (environment) who will also be the environment conservation officer.

Pimpri Chinchwad has over 150 large and small industries with the housing sector growing fast in the last few years. Both these factors put a lot of pressure on the natural resources of the area, hence the need for an environment conservation officer.

"Considering the rapid growth of the township and the future industrialisation and urbanisation, it is necessary to create an independent system for environment protection and conservation in the city," the proposal said. Besides, the municipal corporation has also said that it is required to prepare an environment status report every year, besides carrying out surveys about air, noise, water and land pollutions in the city.

The government while approving the civic proposal has notified the eligibility criteria for selecting the officer.

"Though the medical department had initiated the process of preparing the environment status report for the year 2009-10, the report may be finalised by the environment engineering cell," said K Nagkumar, PCMC medical department head.

The report, as per the government guidelines, should have been tabled at the general body meeting before July 31. Nagkumar, however, said that the draft of the report is ready. Incidentally, the PCMC had failed to table the environment status report last year.