The Times of India    27.08.2012

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.”