Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation launches disaster management portal

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has opened a disaster management cell to tackle floods, fires, accidents, cyber attacks and other such incidents. As part of the disaster management programme, the civic body has started an online portal, which was formally inaugurated by KPIT president Ravi Pandit on Tuesday.PCMC coordinating officer Neelkanth Poman said awareness, preparedness and mitigation are important factors while facing any disasters.

The civic body will create public awareness about natural and man-made disasters through the online portal.Poman said, "It is mandatory for local self-government bodies to develop such a system as per the guidelines of the National Disaster Management Authority. The PCMC is the first civic body in the country to develop such an advanced system to create awareness and help people during disasters. The portal will help the civic administration in assisting citizens during disasters like floods, fires, accidents, cyber attacks, etc. Any citizen can alert the civic body about disasters through the system."Meanwhile, the PCMC has also started an online facility to reserve playgrounds and badminton halls run by the civic body."Five people booked playgrounds using the system on Tuesday and made a payment of Rs 3,500 to the civic body through their credit cards. Citizens no longer have to visit the sports department offices to reserve a civic playground or badminton hall.

This will save their time and transportation cost," Poman said.Subhash Machare, head of the PCMC sports department, said, "People will be able to reserve one squash court, four lawn tennis grounds, 13 playgrounds and 13 badminton halls belonging to the sports department. The people can find out online the days and timings when these places can be booked."