Pune, 11 July 2025: In a decisive move to accelerate the pace of infrastructure development in Pune city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has established a dedicated 'War Room' to monitor and streamline the progress of over 30 crucial civic projects.
The initiative is being spearheaded directly by Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, who will oversee the functioning of this War Room and ensure timely completion with improved quality standards.
The major projects under this initiative include the JICA-funded water supply scheme, riverfront development, equitable water distribution project, road widening projects like Katraj-Kondhwa and Shivne-Kharadi, and several flyovers across the city. These projects are being supported financially by the Central and State governments through schemes like Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
Despite receiving the required funding, many of these projects have faced delays, with several deadlines already missed and subsequent extensions showing little progress. Upon taking charge as Commissioner, Naval Kishore Ram convened a comprehensive meeting with all departments to assess the status of ongoing works. He emphasized that timely completion is critical, but equally important is ensuring the quality of execution. As a result, he announced focused monitoring of 30–32 key projects through the newly formed War Room mechanism.
Every 15 days, the War Room will conduct progress reviews, and special deputy commissioners have been assigned to supervise these projects. These officials are tasked with organizing regular meetings with their respective departments and submitting detailed progress reports, thereby ensuring accountability and transparency throughout the implementation process.
The prolonged delays in these big-budget civic works have drawn criticism not only from citizens but also from the Central and State governments. Escalating costs due to time overruns and their cascading impact on daily life, such as traffic congestion and disruptions in civic services, have raised serious questions about the PMC's administrative efficiency.
In light of this, the Commissioner has taken a detailed review of all delayed projects and has instructed department heads to identify bottlenecks and resolve them urgently.
The creation of the War Room is expected to centralize oversight, foster inter-departmental coordination, and expedite decision-making, thus bringing long-pending development works back on track while restoring public confidence in the civic administration.
