The Pune Municipal Corporation has directed officials to prepare dismissal proposals against sanitation workers who have allegedly remained absent from duty for more than five years, while ordering operational changes to road sweeping and public cleanliness services across the city’s 15 ward offices.
The directions were issued during a review meeting on solid waste management and public sanitation. The meeting examined staffing, enforcement and the implementation of a three-month pilot for performance-based road sweeping across all ward offices.
Under the pilot, each worker or assigned team is responsible for sweeping a 700-metre stretch, with the number of workers determined according to the size of the allocated area. During the review, officials found that some of these stretches included internal private roads within large housing societies. The PMC has now asked officials to reassess the allocations, reduce the assigned areas wherever required and submit revised details to the civic headquarters within five days.
The proposal to act against long-term absenteeism places attendance and workforce deployment at the centre of the civic body’s sanitation review. Officials were directed to submit proposals for dismissing employees who have been continuously absent for more than five years. The report does not specify the number of workers affected or the individual cases covered by the proposed action.
The review also directed officials to intensify punitive action against violations of municipal rules, including regulations governing plastic use. The directions connect enforcement with the day-to-day management of waste and public sanitation, although the report does not provide details of the penalties imposed or the number of plastic-related violations recorded.
Pune Cantonment Board areas were also discussed after repeated complaints about public cleanliness. Officials were asked to improve sanitation planning in these areas. The report does not state whether the PMC or the Cantonment Board will undertake specific new operations, but the issue was included in the wider review of sanitation conditions across the city.
The meeting was held under the directions of the additional municipal commissioner (Estate). It was attended by the deputy commissioner of the solid waste management department, deputy commissioners from all five administrative zones, assistant commissioners from the 15 ward offices and senior health inspectors.
The immediate implementation steps are the submission of revised sweeping-stretch details within five days and the preparation of dismissal proposals for employees identified as continuously absent for more than five years. Further action will depend on the civic body’s scrutiny of those proposals and the revised operational plans.
