This is an archive article published on July 13, 2020
Pune: 2-wheelers allowed for workers, officials say industries need to follow norms
"...Today, we have revised our lockdown guidelines and allowed workers to use two-wheelers to their workplaces... industrial units will have to issue passes to workers, in the format provided by us," Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar told The Indian Express.
“We were against allowing industrial units to operate during the lockdown period as several positive cases have been found in some of them,” said the PCMC chief.
Even as the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Monday eased some of the strict restrictions for industrial units, the civic administration decided to allow industrial workers to use two-wheelers to commute to their workplaces. The district collectorate also appealed to industries to extend their cooperation in tackling the pandemic.
“…Today, we have revised our lockdown guidelines and allowed workers to use two-wheelers to their workplaces… industrial units will have to issue passes to workers, in the format provided by us,” Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar told The Indian Express.
“We were against allowing industrial units to operate during the lockdown period as several positive cases have been found in some of them. But now that we have allowed them to operate, each industrial unit will have to take the responsibility of ensuring that social distancing norms are strictly followed within their premises. We desperately need their cooperation and help as the number of cases recorded within their premises has seen a sudden spurt,” said the PCMC chief.
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PCMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner Anna Bodade said the civic body has shut down two industrial units after several Covid-19 cases were reported. In one industrial unit, of the 29 employees, 23 were found positive and in another, of the 100 employees, 14 were found positive. “In nearly 15 industrial units, we had to shut down some of their departments after one or two cases were found,” said Bodade.
The PCMC administration said it has spoken to industrial bodies like MCCIA and others and urged them to take necessary steps to help control the spread of the virus.
Stating that they have resolved the issues vis-a-vis passes and two-wheeler use, District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said,”…We are aware of the plight of workers and need for industrial units to remain open. At the same time, we expect that industries will make all-out efforts to ensure that cases within their premises do not rise. The responsibility will have to be taken up by each and every industrial unit…”.
Sandeep Belsare, president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association, said, “It is true that some of the industrial units have been behaving irresponsibly and not taking adequate precautions. It is also true that several cases have been found within the premises of some industrial units. However, we have been communicating with industrial units about controlling Covid-19 spread within their premises. We will step up our efforts.”
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H P Srivastava, vice-president of Deccan Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Association said,”There was a lot of confusion after lockdown orders were issued by civic bodies. But it is heartening to know that they have reacted quickly and taken corrective steps. Industries are ever ready to help the administration but they should also not complicate matters… in the recent past, there have been several instances when contradictory orders have been issued by officials.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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“We were against allowing industrial units to operate during the lockdown period as several positive cases have been found in some of them,” said the PCMC chief.
