The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has directed officials to submit dismissal proposals against sanitation workers who have allegedly remained absent from duty for more than five years, while ordering changes to a performance-based road-sweeping pilot across the city’s 15 ward offices.
The directions were issued during a review meeting on solid waste management and public sanitation. The meeting assessed sanitation operations across all ward offices and also examined complaints and implementation problems linked to road sweeping, plastic-use violations and cleanliness in Pune Cantonment Board areas.
PMC officials were instructed to initiate action against employees who have been continuously absent for prolonged periods. Proposals seeking the dismissal of workers absent for more than five years are to be submitted, according to the report. Officials were also directed to intensify punitive action against individuals violating civic rules, including regulations governing the use of plastic.
The meeting also reviewed a three-month pilot for performance-based road sweeping launched across all 15 ward offices. Under the pilot, a 700-metre stretch is assigned for sweeping, with the number of workers determined according to the area allocated to them. The arrangement is intended to link sanitation deployment with the size of the assigned road stretch.
However, the review found that some of the designated stretches included internal private roads within large housing societies. PMC officials have now been directed to reassess these stretches and reduce the assigned areas wherever necessary. Revised details must be submitted to the civic body’s headquarters within five days.
The issue highlights an operational challenge for municipal sanitation planning: road-length allocations can become inaccurate when public roads and privately managed internal roads are counted together. Such mismatches can affect staff deployment, performance assessment and the measurement of work completed under a ward-level sanitation programme.
The civic body also directed officials to improve sanitation planning in Pune Cantonment Board areas. The areas have reportedly received repeated complaints about public cleanliness, prompting the PMC to include them in the review of sanitation arrangements.
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 administrative deadlines are the submission of dismissal proposals for employees absent for more than five years and the delivery of revised road-sweeping stretch details to PMC headquarters within five days.
