Pune gets new body to oversee development

To speed up projects related to the city's development such as widening of roads or water supply schemes, the Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) commissioner Praveen sinha Pardeshi has created a special cell to monitor the progress of such projects.

The cell, which comprises teams that co-ordinate with other government agencies, has been set up outside the PMC's official machinery and will oversee the implementation of civic projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission.

Pardeshi told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on the new housing policy that the duties of the cell can be expanded to make it an independent division of the corporation and eventually spin it off into a limited company.

Pardeshi said the cell was now in charge of co-ordinating with government bodies like the electricity distribution company or telephony concessionaire BSNL to make sure there were no obstacles in the projects like road widening.

"We are getting responses from political parties on the concept and are getting them to agree to leave the implementation to an independent group once the budget of the corporation has incorporated the proposals they have put forward," he said.

The cell can eventually be converted into a limited company with PMC as a minority (49 per cent) stake holder and the rest of the participation from others including builders' organisations, Pardeshi indicated.

Once told of the project to implement, the company will negotiate with the project management consultants and get things done, PMC being left with the responsibility of ownership of the projects, he added.