Activists seek better services at CFCs in Pune

Pune: A survey conducted by Sajag Nagrik Manch, a citizen's group, has highlighted that citizens facilitation centres (CFCs) in the city are not functioning properly.
The group submitted a letter to the civic administration and demanded that all CFCs be made functional. "We visited nine centres. Of that, six were closed and no one was present there to give any information.The three centres which were open could hardly help us in taking full benefit of the facilities, because there was no proper connectivity," the letter said.
According to officials, the Pune Municipal Corporation has given permission for 75 CFCs in the city. As many as 57 have been made operational.
Activists said that according to the civic body's contract with the company that has been running the centres since 2006, services like payment of property tax, electricity bill, telephone bill and reservation of rail or bus tickets were supposed to be provided. The civic body pays Rs 15,000 plus electricity charges every month per kiosk. However, in the last ten years, the contractor has only provided the property tax payment service, that too only by cheques.
A majority of the citizens pay property taxes in April or May to avail discounts, and it is during this time that the CFCs are not working, the activists alleged.
Despite repeated attempts, head of PMC's IT department Rahul Jagtap and PMC additional commissioner Rajendra Jagtap were unavailable for comment.