Citizen groups fault quality of work done on leaking amenity, call out PMC for compromising on safety in its pursuit of cheapest options during tendering

The product of an eight-year legal struggle and an investment of Rs 25 crore, the Ramwadi underpass on Pune-Ahmednagar Road linking Viman Nagar and Kalyani Nagar was slated to decongest traffic on the New Airport Road and Kalyani Nagar. But six years since its opening, it has turned into a hazardous passage for motorists, with its roof and walls leaking and concrete chipping off the ceiling’s slab.

Most users of this critical linkway are now mortally scared of it, having encountered the dripping ceiling mid-summer that has rendered the path slippery, and visible cracks looming. Despite the long lull in traffic through the lockdown, the underpass has already reported 12 accidents in the past one year.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The Association of Nagar Road Citizens Forums (ANRCF) and Viman Nagar Citizens Forum (VNCF) have sent letters to the municipal commissioner and chief engineer of PMC’s project department, accusing the civic body of compromising quality of work in their pursuit of the cheapest option during tendering. They also called out PMC for not monitoring the condition of the underpass, leaving it to citizens to draw its attention to the state of disrepair.

“The wide cracks evident on the ceiling of the underpass are a serious issue that needs to be attended to immediately, before bigger peril befall its users, such as chunks falling on the heads of motorists. If necessary, PMC should close the underpass to get the work done. This is a sampling of the kind of bad road engineering undertaken wasting taxpayers’ money. Given the abysmal condition, it is clear that bad quality of material was used to build it. Based on my earlier complaints, some walls were replastered but their condition quickly deteriorates. The place has become particularly treacherous for cycles and twowheelers and can trigger fatal accidents,” pointed out Qaneez Sukhrani , convener of ANRCF.

Likewise, Umesh Magar, member of VNCF, added, “Putrid water continues to seep through. Obviously measures taken to stop this so far have been inadequate. Instead of calling in experts to get to the bottom of the problem, PMC’s project and water supply departments and the ward office concerned are engaged in a blame game, pointing fingers at each other.”

Pramod Deokar-Patil, a resident of Ramwadi, observed, “The safety aspects on the stretch have been grossly neglected, focusing more on the decorative aspect of the work. There is also some encroachment pending to be removed so the underpass can be widened.”

Shrinivas Bonala, chief engineer (projects), who is also in charge of traffic planning department of PMC, did not respond to calls and messages. However Sandeep Patil, deputy engineer (projects), said, “We’ve visited the site and checked the status of the underpass slab. The water actually comes from the gaps created by the expansion of the bridge’s joints. We did not notice any slab or concrete disintegration, but if it’s there, we will ensure that it is repaired. We are also exploring chemical treatment to plug the leakage, but are hampered by budget constraints. Once money is allocated, work will be undertaken.”

One of the major benefits of playing a full season pretty much on schedule during a pandemic is what the NFL learned technologically from 2020.

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league has found new avenues of communication that will be common in future seasons.

“Virtual meetings have now become standard in the NFL; we are not going to have as much (in-person) meetings when we get back,” Goodell said Wednesday at the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum. “I think technology is something we have embraced and will make us better.”

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The previous standard before the COVID-19 pandemic was hour upon hour of meetings at team facilities, whether involving the entire roster in an auditorium or breaking into smaller groups on offense, defense, special teams or by specific positions. While in-person gatherings won’t entirely disappear, the NFL found the ability to meet virtually is a positive development.

“We got together as a coaching team,” said Callie Brownson, Cleveland’s chief of staff, “and our coaches said we got better at teaching because we had to find a way to get better. The eagerness to adapt and learn and change is such a valuable commodity as a coach.”

Brownson became the first woman to handle NFL in-game sideline coaching duties last season.

At a time when so many other sports endured massive delays and restructured schedules because of the pandemic, the NFL made it to the finish line without any major disruptions, largely by embracing technology. The league in essence used the draft last April as a proving ground, and when that worked so well — Goodell even was widely praised for his emcee role — being remote was not a hindrance during offseason programs and onward.

“The draft is an example” of the effectiveness of the technology the NFL used, Goodell noted. “When I told the teams what we were planning to do, to say there was outcry would be an understatement. That had not been done before.

“They had to adapt, to use technology properly.

“It also gave us a chance to go inside people’s homes. The number of notes I got about being at home with their families and having them experience it (with the players). … And there was not one complaint from a club, which is almost impossible to do. They didn’t feel they were unprepared for the draft.”

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From there, it was full speed on all levels, from Zoom meetings and texting to the creation of workout programs and, once the season began, putting together game plans.

Browns co-owner Dee Haslam said the team has used virtual town halls to coordinate efforts between the business and football sides of the organization.

“One of the things we talked about throughout the last year was how do we learn from what we are going through?” Goodell said. “What are we going to take forward? It also gave us opportunities to find new ways of doing things that actually are quite popular.”

Despite the pandemic-induced disruptions, venture capital funds pumped $2.7 billion into domestic fintech companies in 2020, the second-highest fund infusion into the sector since 2019 when it had peaked at $3.5 billion, according to a report.

The biggest investments were into Bengaluru-based payments firm Navi Technologies at $397.9 million from angel funds, Noida-based Pine Labs attracted $300 million from private equity players, and Razorpay received $100 million from GIC of Singapore, Sequoia and others, making it a unicorn.

As against this, global fintech investments stood at a whopping $105 billion across 2,861 deals in the year, the third-highest annual total ever, as per the data collated by KPMG India .

Despite pandemic challenges, domestic fintech players attracted $2.7 billion in 2020, the second-highest after the 2019 peak of $3.5 billion, the report said, adding the year also saw the creation of a unicorn in Razorpay.

Payments remained the hottest area of investment, followed by tech-driven insurance firms and tech-driven wealth managers, the report said.

Competition in the insurance space started to heat up as incumbent insurers enhanced their digital focus due to the pandemic and niche payments players worked to expand into insurance, it added.

Sanjay Doshi of KPMG India said many domestic banks are now going down the digital path, creating a big growth area for investments as banking-as-a-service platforms.

He expects the fintech investment to remain robust in 2021 given the increase in demand for digital payments , contactless payments and e-commerce platforms. Investment by corporates is expected to be particularly strong as incumbent businesses continue to work to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

In addition to payments and platform models, B2B solutions, including embedded finance and ‘buy now, pay later’ solutions, will likely be a hot investment area in 2021.

That apart blockchain is also expected to gain traction as blockchain-based solutions and digital asset offerings become more mainstream.