₹12,618-crore municipal budget for 2025-26 focuses on incomplete infra

Although the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has fallen well short of its revenue target of ₹11,601 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25, the civic body has proposed a budget of ₹12,618 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26, which is an increase of ₹1,000 crore over last year's budget.

- HT Correspondent

PUNE:

The PMC managed to collect only ₹6,434 crore in revenue by January 2025 but expects to reach a maximum of ₹8,000 crore by the end of the financial year 2024-2025. Municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale said, "By the end of January, PMC had generated only 55% of the estimated revenue but expects an additional ₹1,500 crore in February and March, taking the total to around ₹8,000 crore. Meanwhile, PMC has already spent ₹4,413 crore and is projected to utilise up to 70% of the allocated budget by the end of March."

Asked about the rationale behind increasing the budget for 2025-26 by ₹1,000 crore despite the revenue shortfall in 2024-25, Bhosale said that the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections affected revenue collection. He expressed confidence that better planning in the upcoming fiscal year would improve revenue generation.

Liabilities from public-private partnership (PPP) projects The PMC has been executing several infrastructure projects under the PPP model, particularly roads and bridges. The civic body has a financial obligation of ₹2,288 crore towards private contractors, but this liability is not reflected in the 2025-26 budget.