Pune: The civic administration pulled up four contractors for shoddy road sweeping and garbage-clearing works and issued notices seeking explanations.The city generates over 2,300 metric tonne (MT) garbage per day. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has appointed additional contractors and over 4,000 sweeping workers, for maintaining daily cleanliness in public areas since last month. It is a pilot project.However, officials’ recent surprise visits pointed at significant lapses and revealed that road sweeping was not being done properly, resulting in unattended garbage at chronic spots and roadside. Officials said the notices, along with strict warnings, have been issued immediately to the contractors responsible for those areas. The action was to improve daily sweeping activities.PMC was prompted to take action against the contractors after complaints from citizens rose significantly. The citizens have said the garbage generation was set to rise as the footfall of visitors was likely to go up significantly during the Ganeshotsav. The administration would have to make adequate arrangements to deal with daily waste, they said.An official from PMC said, “We would continue with our surprise visits to inspect daily sweeping. The teams [of sweepers] have been expected to work in three shifts, and the contractors were expected to upload the photos after cleaning of roads. In some areas, the sweeping has been conducted during night hours.”Responding to PMC action, citizens have said such notice issuances for shoddy works should not be a one-time activity and the administration must take up continuous monitoring to improve cleaning.Govind Patil, a Sinhagad Road resident, said, “PMC has been spending lakhs of rupee on cleaning, but still the roads remained dirty. There were issues about rampant dumping of waste in open areas and at roadside. Overall waste management was not looking to be effective,” Patil said.
