After it has been found that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is using a study room as a warehouse, the civic body has come under severe criticism from the students and residents.

The PMC constructed a building, Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Abhyasika, in Vadgaon Budruk, for students to provide them with a study room. The civic body reportedly spent Rs3 crore on the construction of the building. However, it has been found that the PMC is now using it as a warehouse. 

The building was inaugurated in 2021 by Maharashtra’s Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil.

While talking to The Free Press Journal, residents and politicians expressed their displeasure over the transformation of the study room into a municipal warehouse.

PMC stocking scrap at library

Pankaj Phule, a professor, shed light on the genesis of the study centre and the root cause of the issue. 

"This area has a lot of colleges and institutes, and students preparing for MPSC and UPSC are also there. Therefore, this area was selected, and a study centre was built. After the completion, the building was given to a trust to run. However, the furniture and electricity work was pending, and Rs1 crore was required to make it completely operational, but the civic body said they didn't have the funds and after that, the second wave of COVID hit, and it was closed,” Phule told the FPJ. 

He claimed that the PMC started bringing scrap stocks from Naidu Hospital and stocking them in the study centre a few weeks ago.

“This study centre also has a library, but it is not being put to use, and we protested because we don't understand the motive of change of use. This place can accommodate around 500 students, and the motive of this building was for the students to study, so why change it," Phule asked.

₹3 crore spent on construction

"The building was constructed so that the students get a place to sit and study. Rs3 crore was spent during the construction, and since its completion, the building has not been put out to use. Initially, students were going and using the facility as a study room, but the electricity connection was not there, so we wrote a letter requesting an electricity connection. However, before the connection could come, the PMC authorities filled the room with goods and made it a warehouse. The students' future is at stake; will the authorities wake up from their slumber and actually see what they have done? They are simply killing the potential and future of students," former corporator Haridas Charwad, a former corporator, told the FPJ.

"We also staged a protest on Dec 12. The students and their parents were there, and we wrote a letter to the PMC commissioner raising our concerns," added Charwad. 

Sachin Karu, a resident, told the FPJ, "It is unfortunate if the building constructed for the students to study is now being used as a warehouse. It reflects the negligence of the civic body and their ignorant behaviour towards the students coming from the lower strata of society. These study rooms are the most needed for the students who come from a weaker financial background. They can sit and study here and make a better future for themselves. But their ignorant attitude is ruining the future of the bright students. This clearly shows that they (PMC) don't care about the lives of students.”

“If all they wanted was a warehouse, then why are they insulting the social reformers like Savitribai Phule by using their name? If they are using their name, they should stand for that and allow the students to sit and study and provide and enhance the facilities so that it can become more accessible to the students," Karu said. 

However, the PMC officials called the arrangement a “temporary” one, without specifying how long the phase will last.

"The raw material is being transferred from Naidu Hospital to that building as the construction of a college is going on, and this is just a temporary arrangement, and the material does not hold any hazardous material. I won't be able to share the exact time duration for this temporary arrangement," Shridhar Vishnu Yeolakar, the Head of PMC’s Building Department (Zone 1-3), told the FPJ.