Mosquito menace: PMC to take a final call on move to penalise defaulters
Efforts of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to check mosquito menace will reach its last hurdle
The efforts of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to check mosquito menace by framing rules that will enable the administration to directly penalise individuals or organisations that do not follow instructions on taking steps to stop breeding of mosquitoes,will reach its last hurdle as it comes up for discussion in the general body.
The civic administration,using the existing provisions of the BPMC Act,for the first time took legal action against six persons,including a builder,who failed to abide with the administration’s directions.
The proposal was first tabled in the women and child welfare committee,but there was no decision for more than four months reportedly due to the reluctance of the elected representatives and the proposal was sent to the all party coordination committee. The proposal was finally approved last month by the women and child welfare committee and forwarded to the legal committee,which also gave its nod,but a proposal to reconsider the decision was tabled at the next meeting.
“The demand to reconsider the decision was withdrawn at the committee meeting on Thursday after the administration cleared all the queries,” said Suman Pathare,chairperson of the legal committee.
Now,the proposal has come up in the general body meeting scheduled for August 19,after which the civic administration will forward it to the state government before implementing it.
“The PMC has initiated legal action against people failing to follow the civic administration directives to check breeding of mosquitoes. This is for the first time that the existing provisions of the BPMC Act is being used to take action in such cases to penalise defaulters. Legal cases have been filed against six persons,including a builder,” said Vaishali Jadhav,assistant medical officer.
However,once the framed rules come into force the civic administration will have powers to directly penalise people who fail to follow PMC directions.
According to the draft rules,mosquitoes breed in water tanks at construction sites,potholes,open septic tanks,unused wells,non-operational decorative fountains,water bodies like nullahs,swimming pool,storm water drainage,and uncovered utensils used to store water.
In case of violation of such rules by individuals or organisations,they will be fined Rs 1,000 and Rs 100 a day if no corrective steps are taken. The civic administration will further initiate criminal proceedings against them.
Individuals and organisations have to ensure that water stored or left behind on their premises do not create an environment conducive for mosquitoes to breed. The PMC may also issue stop work order to ongoing construction,if mosquito breeding sites are spotted. This will continue till proper measures are taken.
If the civic administration finds mosquitoes breeding on private property,then the owner will be served a notice to initiate steps to tackle the situation. PMC will initiate steps like “physical and biological measures” to tackle the situation after citizens fail in their duties for which expenditure will be incurred by the owner.
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