The Indian Express                 29.05.2013

PMC to spend Rs 75 lakh on security and maintenance of new FoBs, subways

To enable safe road crossing for pedestrians, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has proposed to spend Rs 75 lakh on security, safety and cleanliness of foot overbridges (FoB) and subways constructed by the civic body on the roads as part of the BRTS project.

The civic body has constructed eight subways and seven FoBs with lift facility under the JNNURM scheme.

"The foot overbridges with lift facility will soon open for public as the work is nearing completion. The lift facility has been introduced for the first time to encourage citizens to use overbridges for crossing roads," said Shivaji Shinde, executive engineer, JNNURM cell.

There are many foot overbridges in the city that are not used frequently by pedestrians as one has to walk up the stairs to get to the top and then cross the road. One such FoB was removed from near district collector office in the past.

"There will be a need to appoint lift operators at all foot overbridges to ensure safety and its proper use. The operators will be appointed by the anti-encroachment department of the civic body," he said.

Ramesh Shelar, incharge anti-encroachment department, said the contract for lift operators, security and cleanliness of the FoBs and subways will be for one year. "The proposed Rs 75 lakh is for the entire year," he said, adding the contract would be given after floating tenders.

Shelar said citizens do not use subways very often due to their bad condition and lack of security.

"As of now, the civic body has asked private firms to provide two security guards and a cleaner each at eight subways and two FoBs," he said.

Activist Prashant Inamdar said that the civic body is unnecessarily wasting money on such projects.

"The maintenance charges of FoBs with lift facility will increase every year. Instead, this money could have been used to appoint wardens at these FoBs to inculcate discipline among pedestrians," he said.