Indian Express 12.03.2010
Civic body passes budget, mud-slinging begins
Express News Service Tags : Civic, budget, corporation Posted: Friday , Mar 12, 2010 at 0147 hrs
Pune: Following an eleven-hour discussion on the Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) 2010-11 budget, the civic general body passed the budget late in the evening on Wednesday. The budget came with a number of corporators criticising the civic administration for its way of functioning and delay in implementing development projects for the city."Though PMC boasted of being the first municipal corporation to prepare a gender budget, it did not come into reality. It is shameful that there is no sufficient public urinals in the city for women," Shiv Sena leader in PMC Shyam Deshpande said.
He said the civic administration failed to take steps eliminate the slums. We had proposed for a slum rehabilitation plan, which is yet to see the light of the day. The ruling parties are not making enough for it and have no control over the civic administration," Deshpande said.
BJP corporator Anil Shirole brought a number of issues to the fore, ranging from water leakage, footpaths, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), etc
"The civic administration proposes hundreds of projects every year, which either fail to take off or left unfinished. The administration put up a proposal for 24x7 water supply and also proposed to appoint consultants for the same. But in reality, the administration has failed to stop the water leakage," he said.
Corporator Ujjwal Keskar asked the civic administration how it would repay the citizens in return of the proposed 11 per cent tax hike.
