Pimpri-Chinchwad: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has been selected as one of the nation's best-performing cities in the "Swachh City Pairing (SSJ) Initiative". It's being implemented by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This selection means the PCMC will now serve as a model and a mentor for smaller cities.
Under this initiative, cities with excellent performance are tasked with mentoring other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to help them achieve better performance.
Accordingly, PCMC will now guide the following five Nagar Panchayats:
- Surgana Nagar Panchayat (Dist. Nashik)
- Lakhandur Nagar Panchayat (Dist. Bhandara)
- Manchar Nagar Panchayat (Dist. Pune)
- Jamkhed Nagar Parishad (Dist. Ahilyanagar)
- Alandi Nagar Parishad (Dist. Pune)
The programme for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) took place at Auto Cluster, Pimpri, on Sunday. The agreement was finalised during a video conference meeting chaired by the Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. On this occasion, PCMC Shekhar Singh signed the agreement.
Attendees at the event included PCMC's Additional Commissioner Vijay Kumar Khorate, Head of the Health Department and Deputy Commissioner Sachin Pawar, along with Chief Officers of the respective Municipal Councils.
Commissioner Shekhar Singh took a detailed review of the solid waste management, waste segregation, collection, and processing systems of these municipal councils. Regarding this, he stated, "PCMC will extend its cooperation to all these municipal councils to achieve excellent performance in the sanitation sector. These institutions will benefit from our experience, technology, and management methodologies."
Head of the Health Department Sachin Pawar also provided information about the Municipal Corporation's successful projects. He clarified, "All necessary facilities, guidance, and cooperation will be provided regularly to ensure a continuous improvement in the performance of these municipal councils."
In the next phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the PCMC has taken the initiative to empower other cities, not limiting its scope to just its own city. This is expected to bring about integrated and collective progress toward sanitation.
