The Pune Municipal Corporation has issued notices to cleaning contractors for poor road-sweeping performance and recovered Rs 6.25 lakh in penalties, as the civic body begins enforcing a three-month performance-based sweeping project across the city. The action follows complaints about accumulated waste, uncleared chronic garbage spots and the absence of sanitation workers from their assigned areas.
The municipal administration said six contractors had been served notices after inspections found deficiencies in sweeping work. Officials are checking service quality directly at work sites across the jurisdictions of different ward offices. Additional Municipal Commissioner Prajit Nair has also inspected some areas, according to the report.
The civic body has said that the new project is being implemented on a pilot basis to improve the standard of city cleanliness. Under the arrangement, sweeping work in different ward-office areas has been assigned to separate contractors. The administration plans to conduct surprise inspections and take action whenever shortcomings are found.
The largest penalty reported so far involves LVG Facilities India Pvt Ltd, which was responsible for sweeping work by 325 workers in the Bibwewadi ward-office area and 275 workers in the Wanawadi-Ramtekdi area. After two months, the work was found to be below expectations. The company was fined Rs 1,000 per worker, resulting in penalties of Rs 3.25 lakh for the 325 workers and Rs 2.75 lakh for the 275 workers. Together, the two penalties amount to Rs 6 lakh.
The PMC also imposed a Rs 20,000 penalty on Lokrajya Self-Employment Service Cooperative Society after deficiencies were found in the work of 20 workers in the Kothrud-Bavdhan ward-office area. The report said notices were initially issued to Priyank Enterprises, Prime Avenue, Sumit Facilities Ltd, Siddhivinayak Enterprises and Global Waste Management Cell Pvt Ltd, among the contractors facing action in the first phase.
The enforcement model marks a change from the earlier practice described by the civic administration. Santosh Warule, deputy commissioner of the solid waste department, said contractors were previously issued notices and that one company had earlier been fined Rs 5,000. The PMC has now begun imposing a penalty of Rs 1,000 for each worker linked to deficient work.
“Earlier, only notices were issued. A company had been fined Rs 5,000. Now, a fine of Rs 1,000 per worker has been started,” Warule said, according to the report. He also claimed that sweeping work had improved by 50% following the action.
The reported deficiencies place the focus on how Pune’s outsourced sanitation services are monitored and paid for at the ward level. For residents, the immediate issue is whether chronic waste points are cleared, whether assigned workers are present and whether roads remain clean after routine sweeping. The PMC’s next steps are surprise inspections and further penalties when contractors fail to meet the required standard during the three-month pilot project.
