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This is an archive article published on April 16, 2021

PCMC to provide Rs 3000 to rickshaw drivers, hawkers, domestic help, barbers, bus drivers

The financial assistance will be provided to those who hold a licence, such as rickshaw drivers and hawkers, or those registered with the PCMC.

Homeless persons  sleep  on Bajirao Road as markets remain shut due to the ongoing Covid restrictions in Pune, Saturday. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre)Homeless persons sleep on Bajirao Road as markets remain shut due to the ongoing Covid restrictions in Pune, Saturday. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre)

The PCMC has decided to extend financial assistance to economically weaker sections of society who will be hit hard by two weeks of the lockdown-like restrictions. The civic administration has decided to provide Rs 3000 each to families of autorickshaw drivers, hawkers, domestic help, barbers, school bus drivers, labourers and gym trainers. The financial assistance will be provided to those who hold a licence, such as rickshaw drivers and hawkers, or those registered with the PCMC.

“The state government has announced two weeks of lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. This will hit those who live hand to mouth. The state government has announced a package that will not benefit economically weaker sections. Therefore, we have decided to pitch in with some financial assistance to the poor, who will otherwise struggle to feed their families,” said Namdev Dhake, BJP House leader in the PCMC, told The Indian Express on Friday.

The BJP is the ruling party in the PCMC and has a majority in the standing committee. On Thursday, it passed a resolution approving the financial assistance to economically weaker sections.

“We will provide financial assistance in 15 days after going through the required process,” Dhake said. Several hawkers are likely to miss the financial assistance being extended by the PCMC as many have not been registered with the civic body. Kashinath Nakhate, president, Kashtakari Sangarsh Mahasangh, said, “The PCMC has failed to conduct a proper survey of hawkers. The zonal offices of the PCMC got the responsibility of conducting the survey. However, they have failed to do so. As a result, over 4,000 hawkers will miss the financial assistance.”

Dhake, however, said, “Though some hawkers may not have been registered, we will ensure that as many as possible get the financial assistance… We will try to accommodate them,” he said.

Welcoming the move, activist Manav Kamble said, “In these bad times, any kind of help would always be welcomed by the poor. The PCMC should ensure that it reaches out to the poor in the best possible way. This should, however, not be used as an election tool as the civic elections are due next year.”

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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


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