Maharashtra: PCMC denies privatisation of hospitals, says only manpower being outsourced
The general body of the PCMC on Monday had given a formal approval to the proposal to appoint private agencies for providing manpower to civic hospitals in the industrial city.
Unlike the six-month contract offered previously by the PCMC to temporary hospital staff, the private agencies have been asked to appoint employees for a three-year period. (File)
The top brass of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday denied allegations that hospitals under the civic body were being privatised. “We are not privatising our hospitals and are only outsourcing manpower,” the additional municipal commissioner of PCMC, Vikas Dhakane, said. The response came after opposition parties accused the BJP-led civic body of promoting privatisation.
The general body of the PCMC on Monday had given a formal approval to the proposal to appoint private agencies for providing manpower to civic hospitals in the industrial city. The YCM hospital with 750 beds is the biggest hospital run by the PCMC. There are also civic hospitals in Pimpri, Bhosari, Akurdi, Chinchwad and Thergaon.
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Dhakane said that PCMC hospitals had faced severe shortage of staff since the outbreak of the pandemic. “We had appointed staff on a temporary basis. However, many employees left their jobs suddenly and we faced problems in finding their replacements. In order to streamline the recruitment process and overcome such hurdles in future, we have appointed three private agencies to provide us with staff as and when required,” Dhakane added.
Unlike the six-month contract offered previously by the PCMC to temporary hospital staff, the private agencies have been asked to appoint employees for a three-year period. “However, the appointments will be made as per the laid-down norms and with the approval of the YCMH dean,” Dhakane said.
The PCMC authorities said that they have been forced to hire private agencies owing to the restrictions imposed by the state government on recruiting permanent staff. “The Maharashtra government has put a ban on recruiting permanent staff for civic hospitals in the state. Therefore, we have to appoint temporary staff,” he said.
“We just have to pay a lump sum to the private agencies for the services rendered. The salaries of the contractual staff will be borne by the agencies themselves,” he said.
However, despite the clarification issued by the PCMC, the opposition parties continued to take on the BJP over the decision to hire private agencies. Former mayor and NCP corporator Yogesh Behl said: “The ruling party is on a spree to provide free space to private agencies in civic hospitals. The PCMC should remember that it is not working for charity, it has to serve the honest tax-paying citizens of Pimpri-Chinchwad.”
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Meanwhile, Raju Misal, the NCP House leader in PCMC, criticised the civic body for trying to float bonds to raise funds for the River Improvement Project. “When the PCMC has Rs 4,000 crore deposits, what is the need to float bonds?” he asked.
Even BJP corporator Sandeep Waghere alleged that the Special Purpose Vehicle for the River Improvement Project has been set up to receive “commission”. Waghere said that just like in the case of the Smart City Project, the SPV plan will also lead to allegations of corruption.
MNS corporator Sachin Chikhale said that while forming the SPV, the civic administration has ignored leaders from other parties. “I had written a letter to the mayor in this regard, yet MNS was not included in it,” he said.
Another former mayor and NCP corporator Mangala Kadam said: “The ruling BJP is taking the PCMC towards bankruptcy through the SPV.”
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Whereas Sena corporator Rahul Kalate said: “We strongly oppose the bid to set up an SPV. One wonders whether the SPV is being set up with an eye on getting commissions.”
Namdeo Dhake, the BJP House leader in the PCMC, said: “Bonds are being floated so that funds are available for the quick execution of the river project. The SPV has been set up just like in the case of Metro projects across the country. By raising bonds, the status of the PCMC will rise at the international level. The opposition is only opposing the project for the sake of opposing it.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
