Activists see red over digging of roads in Pune for laying data cables

Civic activists have objected to the digging of 500 km of roads for laying data cables while questioning the ‘confidential’ nature of the project agreement, and demanding that all documents related to the project be published on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) website for citizens and elected representatives to see.

Civic activists Vivek Velankar and Sarang Yadwadkar have written to the municipal commissioner in this regard.

Velankar said, “The PMC carried out a confidential agreement for laying 500 km of data cables. Though the project is in the PMC limits, the tendering process was called by another agency. The former municipal commissioner on his last day (March 15, 2024) placed the agreement before the standing committee, and it was approved and a work order was given to the company on the same day. Why so much hurry? Interestingly, the stamp paper was published two days before getting the standing committee’s approval (March 13, 2024). It all shows that there is some vested interest in it.”

“We came to know about this proposal under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. There is a clause that the proposal will be confidential. Why is it confidential? Secondly, the PMC will not be able to cancel this agreement for the next 20 years,” Velenkar said.

“As per 79C of the BPMC Act, if the municipal corporation wants to give its property on a long lease, it needs to take the general body’s permission. But before that, the agreement was completed. Now if the PMC scraps it, the civic body will have to pay penalty,” Velankar further said.

There is no clarity about the expenses that PMC will need to bear for the project, Velankar added. “By allowing the digging of roads, the PMC has already lost ₹500 crore in revenue as it used to charge ₹10,000 per running meter. The whole agreement is in favour of the contractor,” Velankar said.

The activists demanded that all documents related to the project be published on the PMC website for citizens and elected representatives to see.