For PMC, a human life worth only Rs 25,000!

PUNE: What is the cost of life in Pune? Well, according to the PMC, it is not more than Rs 25,000. However, the family members of a person who died due to the civic body’s callousness should thank their stars for getting at least this. The relatives of three other victims have not got anything.
The compensation is being offered to the dependents of a 30-year-old woman, who drowned in the Mutha canal after the PMC’s Ganesh immersion water tank in Hadapsar breached in October.
PMC officials said only a select few are given compensation, that too if their family members make an application, which has to be cleared by various committees of the elected members.
Bhanudas Mane, zonal commissioner of Hadapsar, on Thursday told the civic general body that the compensation of Rs 25,000 had not been paid as nobody applied for it. Besides, the standing committee was yet to pass a resolution, he added.
It was only after mayor Dipti Chaudhari intervened and corporators protested that additional municipal commissioner S.B. Patil said the amount would be released within two days.
Patil announced that an increment of a junior engineer, who was supposed to supervise the tank construction, work would be stopped to cover the money being paid. However, his seniors from the river improvement department, who had delayed the tank construction, have gone scot-free.