PMC Properties Left Unsecured: Auditoriums, Parks, Schools, and Hospitals Vulnerable to Thefts and Encroachments

Pune, 29th July 2025: Several properties owned by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), including schools, sports grounds, auditoriums, dispensaries, housing for project-affected people, and public parks, are operating without any security guards, exposing them to thefts, encroachments, vandalism, and illegal activities. This alarming lapse in security has led to losses amounting to crores of rupees.

Except for the main civic headquarters and a few zonal offices, most PMC properties remain unguarded. Basic infrastructure like water taps, electrical wiring, and construction materials are reportedly being stolen from flats built under the BSUP and SRA rehabilitation schemes. In some cases, illegal encroachments have also been reported.

Sensitive facilities like the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park — which houses precious sandalwood trees — as well as garbage depots and vehicle depots have witnessed frequent incidents of thefts, threats, assaults, and trespassing.

Public auditoriums, sports complexes, gardens, hospitals, markets, crematoriums, water tanks, and schools across city limits and merged villages also lack any visible security presence. Notably, nighttime activities involving drunk individuals and miscreants have increased, posing serious risks of untoward incidents.

Various departments of the PMC have placed formal requests for security personnel. The current demands are as follows:
Primary Schools – 36 guards
Student transport buses – 60
Crematoriums – 37
Gardens – 92
Health Department – 70
Sports Grounds – 25
Auditoriums – 71
Water Tanks/STPs – 95
Vegetable Markets – 30
PMC Security Officer Rakesh Vitkar said, “Once departments raise requests, the technical processes are completed and the proposal is submitted to the Commissioner. Further action will be taken accordingly.”