The Times of India          09.12.2010

PCMC panel approves school board budget

 PUNE: The standing committee of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday approved the Rs 95.88 crore draft budget of the municipal school board for 2011-12.

Addressing a news conference here, Prashant Shitole, chairman, standing committee said, "The school board had prepared the draft budget with an outlay of Rs 102 crore, which the civic administration reduced to Rs 93.88 crore. After discussions, members decided to increase provision for certain items and reduce allocations for others."

Shitole said, "The civic administration had made a provision of only Rs 20 lakh in the draft budget to start English medium balwadis' but the standing committee increased the provision by Rs 1.5 crore. The civic administration had made a provision of Rs 14.45 crore for school expenditure, which was increased by Rs 2.5 crore to enable repair works in municipal schools and conducting other minor works."

He said that the standing committee reduced the Rs 62 crore allocation made by the administration for administrative expenditure by Rs 2 crore. The draft budget of the school board will be sent to the civic general body for final approval. Speaking on other issues, Shitole said, "The health card system for residents will become fully operational in a month. The PCMC is providing infrastructure and hardware for this project, while the private operator will provide software and manpower."

Shitole said that the standing committee also approved a resolution to purchase 210 laptops for junior, deputy and executive engineers in the PCMC at an expenditure of Rs 96.24 lakh.He said the matter of water leakages in the municipal water supply system had came up when a proposal about annual maintenance of valve actuators in the delivery line of the Ravet pumping station at an expenditure of Rs 12.22 lakh came up for approval.

Civic officials had replied that water leakage occurs more due to faults in the valves than due to faults in the water pipeline. Pravin Tupe, joint city engineer had said that the civic administration has been able to reduce water leakages by 30 per cent. Members directed the administration to conduct a survey of valves to find if they needed to be replaced. "Standing committee members have also sought two days to study the draft budget of the tree authority worth Rs 9.48 crore," Shitole added.