Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) plans to build a new 300-bed children’s hospital at Taljai Plateau.
Activist Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch opposes the project, questioning PMC’s ability to run existing hospitals.
Allegations raised that such projects may later be handed over to private operators.
Pune, 10 September 2025: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has proposed setting up a 300-bed children’s hospital at Taljai Plateau in its 2025-26 budget. The health department has already asked the building department to prepare a plan. However, the move has drawn sharp opposition from civic activists.
Vivek Velankar, president of Sajag Nagrik Manch, argued that PMC has a poor track record of managing the hospitals it has already built. He pointed out that many civic-run hospitals are either partially handed over to private institutions or managed by external operators due to lack of resources.
“PMC spends crores of rupees from taxpayers’ money to build hospitals but then fails to operate them. In several cases, the civic body has given private hospitals extra FSI in exchange for free beds for poor patients, but even that space is hardly used. Instead of strengthening existing facilities, why build another hospital at Taljai?” Velankar asked.
He further warned that the new hospital might eventually be handed over to private players under the pretext of poor management. Velankar urged the municipal commissioner to set up a special committee to oversee health department decisions and to prevent wasteful capital expenditure.