The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Tuesday launched a survey in eight slums under its jurisdiction with an aim to provide a ‘Plus Code’ to every dwelling. A ‘Plus Code’, developed by Google, is a digital address based on latitude and longitude and displayed as letters and numbers.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Ulhas Jagtap inaugurated the survey at Gawli Matha slum near Nehrunagar. The eight slums are located in Akurdi, Bhosari, Pimpri and Dapodi areas.
The PCMC will initially put up a board with a ‘Plus Code’ outside each hutment and shop in the eight slums. And then, the exercise will be carried out in all PCMC slums, civic officials said.
“The survey will help us understand the status of basic services being provided in the slums by the civic body and other related details like availability of water, roads, drainage, and toilets for individual huts. After this, we plan to provide each hutment with a Google Plus code. The code will help us identify the exact location of the hutment and the needs of the family staying there,” PCMC Deputy Municipal Commissioner Anna Bodade told Indian Express Wednesday.
Bodade said though the PCMC is currently in the process of rehabilitating slum dwellers by constructing high-rise buildings, the civic administration at the same time is determined to ensure that basic services are upgraded in the slums.
“Slum rehabilitation is a continuous process. It is happening and will take time. Before that, we cannot allow slums to remain in the state they are in. And, therefore, the civic administration is going all out to ensure effective implementation of basic services for slum dwellers,” he added.
The survey has been launched by the PCMC with the help of NGO Shelter Associates, which has already provided Google Plus codes in several slums in Kolhapur and a few in Pune city.
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Pratima Joshi of Shelter Associates said, “Google Plus code is generated in the Google Plus code software…”
Joshi added that the code will help residents avail services like cylinder delivery or emergency ambulance service at their doorstep. The code will also be highly beneficial to the PCMC. “If a drain is overflowing in front of a hutment, the resident living there can alert the PCMC by putting the code in Google Maps. The officials can then locate the exact hutment.”
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Joshi said, they had given a Plus Code to each dwelling in Kolhapur slums. “This helped us in finding out the status of vaccination among slum dwellers,” she said.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd