A press release issued by the PMCEA said: “It is learnt that that a government officer will be appointed on deputation as PMC additional city engineer, which the association strongly condemns.”

The engineers said: “Earlier, two government officials had been appointed on deputation for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The civic administration had promised not to make any further appointments on deputation and had also promised that no further appointments would be made in future.”

The association said since the two officials were also given other tasks there is a lot of disquiet amongst the civic officials. It demanded that the two earlier appointees and one proposed should be sent back. “If they are not removed from their positions within the next 15 days, members of the association will stop working and agitate.” When contacted, PMC commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi justified the appointment saying it is necessary since the workload of civic projects is increasing.

“The state official is being appointed to look after the water supply department. There are big development projects to be implemented for water supply. And hence, it is wrong on the part of civic engineers to go on strike. They are not class IV employees to do so.”

He also said that if they carry out agitations and go on strike, the civic administration would take a legal action against them.

Apply for Harit Pune prize
The Pune Municipal Corporation has appealed those voluntary organisations working in the field of environment to send their work-profiles and data relating to their activities for giving Harit Pune prize.

In order to give a boost to the tree plantation work done by such green bodies, the PMC has been giving a prize since 1999, which includes a cash amount of Rs 10,000. The requirements for this are: the organisation should be registered. It should have planted a minimum of 1000 trees and looked after them for five years.