The Indian Express               09.05.2013

PMC to map development work; stop repetitions, losses

With complaints of the same development work getting repeated, leading to loss of revenue, the Pune Municipal Corporation administration has taken up a pilot project to map the development work, so that it becomes easy to re-check work done previously before issuing new work order.

"Many a time, citizens or activists complain of the same work being repeated, leading to loss of public revenue. It is often difficult to locate the records of work done earlier or that which has been alloted to someone," said Rahul Jagtap, in-charge of compute department of PMC.

There are also complaints of the same work being undertaken frequently by the civic body, he said, adding this means either the earlier work was of poor quality or by mistake the same work is taken up.

As a solution to the situation, PMC has decided to use technological advances to track work undertaken by the civic body. "We have decided to map work taken up in the city. This mapping will use Google platform to mark the work with all its details," Jagtap said.

The mapping will be of different colours for different kinds of work like that of road, water, garden, drainage, electrical, and a mere click of the mouse on a marked location would reveal all the details of the work undertaken, he said. "It will display the work details, tender, cost, and year of work done."

"This will help avoid repetition of work and also enable us to ascertain the frequency of work as well as the quality of work done by the contractor," he added.

The initiative has been launched under the Kondhwa ward office jurisdiction. All problems in its implementation would be solved before extending it to other ward offices, Jagtap said.

PMC has also taken up mapping of assets of civic bodies on Google map that can be accessed by citizens on the link on official website of civic body. All the civic offices, hospitals, schools, gardens and other places can be easily located on the map.

"We have only marked civic properties of 12 types on the map so far, but would slowly keep adding the other assets," he said. 

The Indian Express               09.05.2013

1,098 trees to make way for infrastructure projects

902 trees will be removed for a single project, Sion-Panvel Expressway.

BMC approved Wednesday felling/shifting of 1,098 trees to facilitate 28 infrastructure projects, including Sion-Panvel Expressway.

Of the 1,098 trees, 902 will be removed by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to expand Sion-Panvel Expressway. MSRDC will transplant 535 trees and replant 367.

Members of the BMC tree authority, however, fear the transplantation will remain on paper.

"While the proposal is to replant nearly the same number of trees that will be cut, there is nothing to check if government agencies will actually implement this," said nominated member Niranjan Shetty.

Activists were also sceptical of the success of transplantation, especially since a majority of trees in the proposed belt are mature.

"The exercise will cause a huge loss of public funds. Rs 25,000 is needed to transplant a tree but there is no guarantee of survival. Old and tall trees are most unlikely to survive and most trees in the belt are old and tall," said Shetty.

Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte, in-charge of the civic tree authority, countered: "We have a mechanism in place to ensure the agency carries out mandated number of transplants and replants. The civic superintendent of gardens has decided areas where the trees will be shifted and we have already shortlisted trees that can withstand transplantation. The remaining will be replanted, as required."

Widening and improvement of Sion-Panvel Expressway is necessary for smooth flow of traffic once Navi Mumbai International Airport becomes operational. It is already one of the busiest routes in Mumbai Metropolitan Region connecting the city to national highway 4. The project is to expand the road from 12 to 16 lanes.