The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has expanded its zonal (ward) offices from eight to ten, responding to demands from local BJP MLA Shankar Jagtap who cited the city's growing population and rapid urban expansion. The official notification, issued on Wednesday, states that the revised administrative structure, including new ward boundaries for each regional office, will take effect from May 25.
New Ward Offices and Naming
The municipal corporation has also decided to rename the buildings of these ward offices after historic forts of Maharashtra. Currently, the offices are identified using English alphabets. The move aligns with Section 29-A of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, which allows for the formation of ward committees based on population.
General Body Meeting Approval
During its general body meeting on March 13, 2026, the corporation approved a proposal to restructure the existing eight ward committees and increase their number to ten. A senior PCMC official stated, "This restructuring aims to improve administrative efficiency and strengthen citizen-centric service delivery."
As part of this restructuring, the 32 electoral wards constituted for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation general elections 2025-26 have been redistributed region-wise under the newly reorganized ward committees. The last increase in ward offices occurred in 2017, when they expanded from six to eight.
Population Growth and Demand
In a letter submitted to the municipal commissioner in January this year, MLA Shankar Jagtap highlighted that Pimpri Chinchwad's population had grown from approximately 1.7 million in 2011 to nearly 3 million at present. He argued that each ward office should ideally cater to a population of no more than 300,000 residents to ensure efficient delivery of civic services.
Manpower Deployment
With the addition of two new ward offices, the civic administration will need to deploy additional manpower to manage operations at the new facilities. A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that each ward office requires around 40 to 50 additional personnel, besides senior officers like executive or deputy engineers.
However, Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikrant Bagade clarified that the expansion would not burden the existing workforce. He explained that the civic administration has decided to streamline operations by assigning works related to multiple departments, including civil and drainage, to one executive engineer and one deputy engineer in each ward. "The two additional ward offices will be operated using the existing manpower," Bagade said.
