Pune Vaccination Drive At Mercy Of Corporators, Each One Gets a Vaccination Centre

Pune, 27th May 2021: As the city administration grapples with the lack of vaccine doses, a new headache. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has now decided that each of its corporators will now get a vaccination centre in their wards.

There are currently 91 PMC run vaccination centres in the city. Now, this number has doubled and 181 centres have been fixed. However, the supply of vaccines to the city is critically insufficient as the Central and State Government are unable to provide Pune with regularity.

Disputes had started because some ruling and opposition corporators put pressure on the administration and started the centre. Though, many of them did not get a vaccination centre. It must be noted that some vaccination centres were taken over by the corporators and their supporters and started vaccinating citizens as per their own will.

PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar took serious cognizance of this and complained about it to the District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar. He had also issued an order to release the vaccination centres from political clutches and warned that a case would be registered if they obstructed government work.

Upon seeing this stance taken by the PMC commissioner, the ruling and opposition parties came together and met the commissioner. In this meeting, it was decided that each corporator will get a vaccination centre. Accordingly, the name of the corporator and the vaccination centre suggested by the corporators were submitted to the health department. As per the verbal order of the commissioner, Head of Health Department Dr Ashish Bharti has announced the list of vaccination centres assigned to the corporators.

It is challenging for PMC to keep 181 vaccination centres running smoothly as the vaccination supply is insufficient and inconsistent. In Pune, at least 3.2 million people are expected to be vaccinated, for which at least 6.4 million doses will be required. As of Wednesday, only 9.83 lakh doses have been given in the city. More than 5.4 million doses are still required. Although the municipal corporation is working hard to get the vaccine, the process of vaccination is still difficult until they are permitted by the centre and the Maharashtra government.

PMC Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said, “Now and then the debate was taking place as the number of vaccination centres was low and the demand for vaccines was high. To avoid this, it was decided to start four centres in each ward. Each corporator shall get a vaccination centre in this regard. However, we must note that it has been extended for the convenience of the citizens and not for the corporators.”

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