In a way to register her protest against the alleged failure on part of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration in discharging its duties towards the citizens, a civic activist, Qaneez Sukhrani, has served a legal notice to the civic body stating she was withholding her property tax due for the financial year. “She will hold the billed amount for property tax for 2021-22 in an escrow account as she does see any logical reason for it to be paid by citizens in the absence of or lack of basic services…,” her lawyer Rajendra Palkar said in the notice serve to PMC on behalf of the Viman Nagar resident. “She states that unless the services improve on or before 30th October 2021, the property tax amount will be held in an escrow account by her. After a month, she will start deducting 2% interest on monthly basis from the amount that has been held in escrow account,” said the notice. Sukhrani said there has been complete dereliction by PMC field staff and senior officers in discharging duties of basic services on a regular basis as mandated by Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act 1949, and related Rules. Sukhrani said she had approached PMC’s top officers through email several times and has also raised the issue with the mayor so that he can instruct the four BJP corporators of Prabhag 3, representing her area of residence, to monitor and supervise the lapse in providing basic services. - Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.f The same was communicated to the Chief Minister’s Office through email last year, she said. However, it did not yield any results, she added. The civic activist said the PMC has failed to maintain the condition of roads, allowing them to deteriorate rapidly leading to potholes, cracks and fissures. Most stretches do not have footpaths or are either broken or not built according to norms, she added. The PMC Conservancy staff does not have a standard operating procedure due to lapse in freezing of the Municipal Waste Management Rules because of which garbage is dumped everywhere but not collected, she said. Her other grievances included unwanted cables hanging from trees and electricity poles, trees felled by the agency not being removed from the roads, and poor water supply.
