Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Shekhar Singh Tuesday presented a Rs 5,298 crore annual budget. The total budget amount stands at Rs 7,127 crore after including state and Union government schemes.
Presenting his first budget as the administrator, Singh said his тАЬfocus is on ensuring better connectivity, providing better medical facilities, and uplifting the quality of education imparted by civic schools.тАЭ
тАЬWhen it comes to urban planning, Pimpri-Chinchwad is not only ahead in Maharashtra but in the country as well. However, to make the city an ideal one, we need to take into consideration the cityтАЩs social and cultural fronts. While planning for the cityтАЩs development, a citizen should be the central focus. Today, citizens are expecting better civic amenities. For the PCMC (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation), this is not only a challenge for now, but for the future as well. We also have the challenge of striking a balance between the needs and aspirations of different sections of society. Efforts are being made to make the city all-inclusiveтАж The PCMC is committed to working for a sustainable, environmental-friendly, information-technology equipped, sports and cultural city,тАЭ he said.
The budget has tried to give a push to development projects as an amount of Rs 1,800 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose. тАЬThere are more than 10 big-ticket projects on which we would be spending Rs 1,800 crore. On some of the projects like the new PCMC building at Autocluster, the amount will be spent over three years,тАЭ Singh said.
One of the biggest highlights of the budget is that the PCMC has planned to set up a 750-bed hospital in the Moshi area. тАЬWe have also planned a medical college,тАЭ the PCMC chief said. At present, the biggest civic hospital is the YCM hospital, which also has 750 beds.
The budget has also proposed setting up dentistry departments in all civic hospitals. Currently, only the YCM hospital has a dentistry department that lacks medical staff as well as treatment facilities. тАЬWe will improve the facilities at the YCM hospital, besides we will be setting up well-equipped dentistry departments in other hospitals,тАЭ Singh said.
The budget has not proposed any water tax or property tax hike. тАЬInstead of hiking property tax, we are working on widening our tax net so that those who are not assessed so far are also included,тАЭ Singh said.
Singh said discussions are underway at the state government level for restarting the Rs 400 crore Pavana pipeline project. тАЬWe will be making efforts to bring all stakeholders to a negotiating table so that a solution can be found. However, we cannot give a deadline as to when the project can be restarted,тАЭ he said. The Pavana pipeline project got stalled more than 10 years ago after three protesting farmers were killed in police firing.
