Panvel City civic body plans to develop four ward offices

NAVI MUMBAI: Five years after it was upgraded into a civic body, the Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has now planned to develop four ward offices, one each at Kharghar, Kamothe, Kalamboli and Panvel.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) is now in the process of handing over the land for these projects and the formalities will be completed within the next few weeks, a senior officer said.

The Maharashtra state cabinet elevated the Panvel Municipal Council to PCMC in 2016 and also expanded its jurisdiction by incorporating 29 revenue villages of Panvel taluka and the areas that fell under Cidco.

However, there is not a single ward office in its jurisdiction till date. The officials are now carrying out the administrative works from the old, dingy gram panchayat offices that were built decades ago.

Sanjay Katekar, executive engineer (project) of PCMC, said,

“We have identified the locations for the ward offices. We are working on the designs of each building. The proposal will be presented before the general body by next month and the budget will be allocated just after receiving its approval.”

Katekar, however, did not disclose the estimated budget. “We are planning to develop threestoried buildings for each ward office,” he said.

A PCMC official said, “The old gram panchayat offices, which are now being used as ward offices, are very small and hence we are facing severe space crunch. Forget other amenities, a few of them do not have proper washrooms and the female staff is facing a lot of issues because of that. We hope the proposed ward offices will be a reality soon.”

PCMC is planning to develop four ward offices.