Pune: Fine On PMRDA More Than Contractors By PMC

Pune, 13th September 2022: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has announced that the contractors will be fined Rs 5,000, but seems like the impact of this strict action has hit the Pune Metro itself. Rs 64.71 lakhs was fined by the PMC in the case of potholes whereas Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) alone has been fined Rs 35 lakh for laying cables without permission on metro route.

However, it has come to light that the Municipal Corporation is forgiving towards the contractors who make poor-quality roads. Although a total fine of Rs 29 lakh 71 thousand has been imposed, Rs nine lakh are remained to be paid.

Last year, the Pune Municipal Corporation had permitted to dig roads in the city for water supply, sewage, electricity lines, mobile cables and other purposes. After laying the water supply and sewage channels, the contractor of this department was going to repair the roads.

In other places, the roads were repaired by the Road Department. Also, road resurfacing was done on a large scale before the monsoon in the city. Most of these roads were inadequate as the fiscal year ended on March 31. The corporators were also insistent to get these works done.

As soon as the monsoons started, the roads in the city were flooded. There were potholes on the roads made two-four months ago. Also, the roads during the Defect Liability Period (DLP) were uprooted. Therefore, criticism of the Road Department started due to this shoddy work.

The Municipal Corporation inspected these roads through a third-party organization and proposed penal action. Accordingly, the Road Department has imposed a fine of Rs six lakh for only five works out of 139 roads.

After laying sewage pipes in central and suburban areas, potholes were created due to the filling of roads without proper pressure, for which frequent road repair work is required, but the roads are still in bad condition. But, the contractor has been fined only Rs 40,000 by this department.

The Water Supply Department has imposed a penalty of Rs 14.50 lakh on the contractor for not arranging the work of the same water supply scheme. It has come to light that the Roads, Water Supply and Sewerage Department of the Municipal Corporation has taken a soft policy to take action against the contractors.

However, PMRDA has fined Rs 36 lakh for digging roads to lay electricity lines without taking the permission of the Road Department.

The Road Department has issued notices to the contractors who are doing these works due to the bad condition of 75 roads in seven executive engineers’ departments. Some of these contractors have done more than one work. These 75 works have been divided among 33 contractors, and they have been fined Rs eight lakh 81 thousand. But these contractors have not paid the amount yet.

At present, even though there are potholes in the city, penal action will be taken against the contractors who are to do the repair work. Some officials were against releasing the names of the contractors. In certain areas, the same contractors are taking the work to themselves, but some Road Department officials seem to be ‘kind’ to the contractors. The contractor had to be blacklisted despite the damage to the roads to such a large extent, but the administration took minor punitive action.

“Due to potholes on the roads during monsoon, Road Department has fined Rs 6 lakhs, Water Supply Department fined Rs 14.50 lakhs while Sewerage Department has fined Rs 40,000 to the contractor. While PMRDA has imposed a fine of Rs 36 lakhs for digging roads and laying cables without permission. Also, the Road Department has issued notices to 33 contractors for the work of 75 works and has proposed a fine of Rs 8.81 lakhs on them. But the fine has not been recovered yet,” informed Sahebrao Dandage, Superintending Engineer, Road Department