Pune: The civic administration is struggling to recover over Rs35.44 crore in unpaid rent from 2,485 city-leased properties, effectively giving hundreds of occupiers a free ride on public resources.According to official records, the estates management department has leased out 1,133 flats or tenements, 263 buildings and 1,552 plots of land over the last decade. Out of these, rent payments remain pending for 999 flats, 193 buildings and 1,293 land parcels, with dues ranging from one year to a decade. The PMC owns properties including civic buildings, open land parcels, schools, parks, administrative offices, public utility halls and municipal hospitals.Activists alleged that Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials are ignoring rent recovery because of a political nexus, while civic officials said the pendency has piled up because of legal issues and the adamant attitude of some occupiers. “PMC carried out a number of recovery drives to collect rent and dues. Legal notices have also been served for recovery,” a senior civic official said.But citizens continued to claim that civic officials lack a responsible attitude when it comes to civic properties, pointing out that not much has been done towards a solution despite this issue being raised for decades. “Many of these properties are occupied either by politicians or their supporters. Senior civic officials should be taken to task for their negligent attitude,” said Vijay Kumbhar of social group Surajya Sangharsh Samiti. Kumbhar had several years ago filed a petition in Bombay high court against PMC over the mismanagement of civic properties.Official data further revealed that 4,188 civic-owned properties lack official documentation, with PMC’s name missing from crucial 7/12 extracts and property cards. Activists said this bureaucratic oversight has sparked fears of large-scale land-grabbing and significant revenue loss, estimated in lakhs of rupees. The administration had even designed a PMC property inventory website before the pandemic, but it has remained defunct in recent years, leaving officials blind to the current status of the civic body’s own holdings.The PMC around five years ago started an initiative for the GPS mapping of civic properties to keep them secure, after cases of encroachment came to light. But this too has not yielded the desired results, remaining unfinished and on the slow track.An activist TOI spoke to, who chose to stay unnamed, said, “Misuse of civic properties could have been controlled if information on them was made available at the click of a button. However, poor data management has led to issues such as not updating contracts with occupants, illegal land-grabbing and encroachments. All this is causing huge loss of revenue.”Residents remain frustrated by the poor financial management at a time when civic issues abound, ranging from bad roads to lack of water supply. Ashwini Pathak, a resident of Satara Road, said, “We pay taxes to get proper facilities. Civic properties like clubhouses, schools and apartments can be used for public purposes. The administration should take back these properties from illegal occupants and use them for the greater good.”
