PMC seeks citizens’ help for success in road beautification drive

Kesari said the civic body has been beautifying the city roads by tree plantation on road dividers and islands but could not maintain it owing to apathy of citizens. “There are people who do not understand civic duties and damage work done by the administration. The civic body cannot provide round-the- clock security at all places. Citizens’ participation is a must to keep a check on those damaging public property,” said Kesari.

It’s a build-operate-transfer (BOT) initiative and the civic body will not incur any cost for it,Kesari said. Those taking up responsibility can install a board sporting their name to inform the public about it ,he added.

Satish Khot of Nationl Society of Clean Cities (NSCC) said the PMC initiative is a welcome step but certain issues need to be addressed. He said the PMC should ensure the aesthetics of the area is not affected and for that it should issue proper guidelines.

“In the past,private organisations that had taken up the work of maintaining and developing the islands on the roads and dividers did not follow any rules. The PMC should issue proper guidelines before outsourcing the work,” he said.

The use of placards or any other such structures should be banned by the civic body so that they do not distract drivers on the road,said Khot.