Five Good Initiatives Taken For Pune

October 3, 2017

Pune is constantly broadening its boundaries and growing to accommodate a wider scope for development. In the recent years, the city has seen dramatic shift from being a sleepy town to an IT hub bustling with numerous people.

This has led to rise in traffic and pollution along with many other challenges. However, the civic body, activists and citizens have taken up a cause and worked tirelessly towards maintaining quite a few aspects of our city.

Here’s a list of interesting initiatives taken up:

More Plastic Recycling Units

Over the past few years, Pune has seen a rise in units that are recycling plastic bottles, packets, glasses, etc. As per the smart city project, the first plastic bottle recycling unit was set up in Aundh in 2016. Apart from this various corporate social responsibility initiatives have opened up new units around the city. Areas around Koregaon Park have started processing plastic PET bottles at a recycling unit on North Main Road. Rudra Environmental Solutions is one such independent initiative that collects plastic waste and other material from homes, recycles it to convert it into polyfuels. Plastic material that doesn’t make it to the recycling centre is either dumped or burnt which is much more harmful for the environment.

E-challan System For Traffic Violators

Commissioner of Police, Pune, Rashmi Shukla recently introduced an e-challan system for cops to catch traffic violators and fine them. As per the RTO, there are around 30 lakh registered vehicles in the city. There are 1,250 CCTV cameras installed around 440 locations of the city. The police will be able to fine traffic offenders on the spot or via SMS. Violators can pay their fine at different Vodafone galleries around the city. The police have collected around Rs 50 lakh till now. For those who do not pay up, legal notices will be sent to them.

Citizens’ Safety Through Police

The Pune Police have rolled out initiatives like ‘Buddy Cop’ and ‘Police Kaka’ that have been active since 2016. The city has witnessed several unfortunate instances of crimes committed against women. ‘Buddy Cop’ is one such initiative wherein women can register themselves with the police station in their area and will be able to contact the police at any given point in time. Over 45,000 women have enrolled themselves into this initiative. ‘Police Kaka’ is an effort to bridge the gap between students, young children and the police. A police head constable will be assigned three or four schools or colleges and his or her number will be displayed on the educational premises. Students can reach out to the police constable to report instances of bullying, ragging and eve-teasing.

Engaging Smartly With Citizens

Pune is on its way to becoming one of the smart cities in India. This initiative is however moving at a snail’s pace but the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken efforts to complete certain projects. The Grievance Redressal System is one such project that is complete. The main aim of the Smart City project is to engage with the city’s people. This system is the upgraded citizen help desk forum through which support and guidance can be provided. The civic body is using different portals on the web like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, WhatsApp and other mobile applications. This will also help to provide ward specific information.

Widening The City’s Green Cover

Over the recent months, the civic body along with citizens’ groups have been taking up tree plantation initiatives. As a city that is constantly growing, Pune has lost around 10,000 trees in the last ten years. A step forward to increase the city’s green cover will only help to contribute to a cleaner and greener environment. In July 2016, the civic body planted more than 8,000 saplings around the city in areas like Taljai Hill, Ramtekdi, Katraj, Kondhwa and Undri. The Pune Metro Project is pacing its way ahead to reach its completion but while it’s at it, 685 trees will be axed. To ensure that this doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment, the metro officials will plant 7,000 trees while building the metro.