With 23 merged villages in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the budget of the civic body went up by nearly Rs1,000 crores. Last year the budget was Rs 8,592 crores while this year’s budget is Rs 9,515 crores.
As compared to the budget for 2021-22 which was Rs 7,650 crore, the budget amount was increased by Rs 942 crore in 2022-23.
In a major relief to Punekars, there is no hike in water or property tax rates in this budget.
Eight new bridges/flyovers
Traffic which has become a grave concern in the city for the past few years seems to have no solution. In the last few years, Pune city witnessed huge infrastructural development yet traffic, and de-congestion of the roads remained unresolved.
Kumar in his budget speech mentioned the construction of eight new bridges/flyovers for smooth traffic flow.
Focus on water supply and distribution, decongestion of the roads
Pune Municipal Corporation commissioner Vikram Kumar presented the budget for one of the biggest cities of the country for 2023-24 with a special thrust on water supply and distribution, decongestion of the roads, resolving traffic issues and solid waste management among others.
Sectorwise allocation
With a budget going up by nearly Rs1,000 crores, water has got the maximum share of Rs1321 crores followed by roads with Rs800 crores, traffic planning and execution Rs590 crores. Similarly, for health Rs505 crores have been reserved and for primary and secondary education it is Rs 468.
For decontamination Rs812 crores while for solid waste management, it is Rs864 crores have been allocated. Besides that, about Rs3,100 crore will be spent on salaries and pensions of the employees.
Other important Projects
The budget was presented by the civic chief in the absence of corporators as the civic elections haven’t taken place for over a year now.
A few of the important projects in Pune included the setting up of a hydrogen project from waste in Pune, the Warje Multi-Specialty Hospital, the Sinhagad Road Flyover, the River Rejuvenation Project, a dog park, a hydropower plant, and the setting up of charging stations too have found allocation in the budget.
