Pune: The free Wi-Fi service available at over 150 locations across Pune, including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) headquarters, has been discontinued. This comes after the Smart City project, which facilitated the service, was phased out.

The agreement between the Smart City initiative and RailTel, the service provider, has expired, and the system has been handed over to the PMC. Until a new service provider is appointed, citizens will have to manage without free public Wi-Fi.

The free Wi-Fi service was a widely used facility, particularly at busy public areas, parks, parking lots, major bus stations, and tourist sites. Citizens could access up to 50 MB of data using an OTP-based system. The primary objective of the initiative was to enable people to apply for government schemes and access online public services seamlessly.

At the PMC headquarters, there were no restrictions on internet usage, making it a highly utilized service by citizens visiting for official work. However, with the shutdown of the service, people are now facing major difficulties:

Many mobile networks do not function properly inside the PMC building. Previously, visitors relied on free Wi-Fi for calls and internet access, but now they are forced to step outside the premises to stay connected.

PMC employees, who frequently used free Wi-Fi for official work, are also affected.

Visitors with urgent online tasks are facing inconvenience as they need to exit the building to access mobile data.

According to Ganesh Sonune, Disaster Management Officer, the Smart City initiative has transferred the Wi-Fi system to the PMC. However, since the contract with RailTel has ended, the PMC has assigned the work to MahaPreet. The system is currently under maintenance and repair, and the service is expected to resume soon.