Pune, 14 November 2025: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has proposed diverting ₹24 crore from the water-supply budget allocated to the newly merged villages. This amount is planned to be used for water projects in the old city limits, even though many merged villages still lack basic infrastructure.
PMC officials say that several departments, including the Water Supply Department, are facing a shortage of funds. Because of this gap, the administration has prepared a plan to reclassify a total of ₹52 crore from different budget allocations.
The finance committee has already given approval for this, but residents from the merged areas argue that the civic body collects higher taxes from them without providing essential services.
Citizens living in these newly added areas continue to complain about poor roads, irregular water supply, weak electricity arrangements, unscientific waste management, and serious sewage problems. They say that PMC is failing to carry out immediate and necessary development work. The decision to divert funds has increased their frustration, as many believe their long-term projects are repeatedly delayed.
In 2017 and 2021, 32 villages were merged into PMC. However, due to the lack of progress, Uralikanchan (Uruli Devachi) and Fursungi demanded separation and were later approved to form an independent municipal council.
Residents of other merged villages also say that though the budget shows large amounts allotted to them every year, most projects remain on paper and are pushed to future budgets. As a result, funds often get reallocated at year-end.
Last year too, funds meant for merged villages were diverted, leading to strong public criticism. At that time, PMC had promised not to touch these allocations again. With the same situation repeating this year, many citizens are questioning the administration’s seriousness about developing the merged villages and whether their needs are truly a priority for Pune’s civic body.