Pune, 14 February 2026: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Garden Department has issued a tender worth ₹52 lakh citing repairs for damage caused by heavy rainfall. However, the funds will primarily be used to construct boundary walls in nine city gardens, raising questions about the use of the budget head originally created for rain-related damages.
The heavy rainfall in 2018–19 had reportedly caused damage to several gardens across the city. At the time, a specific budget head was introduced to carry out repair works. Nearly eight years later, the same budget provision is still being used, even though the current works involve construction of compound walls rather than direct restoration of rain damage.
According to the approved proposal, boundary walls will be constructed in nine gardens at a cost of ₹51.29 lakh. The proposal submitted to the Standing Committee did not clearly specify the extent of rain-related damage, leading to questions about what losses were actually incurred due to the heavy rains.
The tender has been awarded to contractor Vishwanath Rambhau Pawar, who secured the work by quoting 14 percent below the estimated cost.
The nine gardens included in the project are Sharad Pawar Udyan (Kondhwa), Phulrani Udyan (Katraj), Vairage Udyan (Bibwewadi), Swami Vivekanand Udyan (Bibwewadi), Chhatrapati Sambhaji Udyan (Shivajinagar), Nikam Udyan (Gokhalenagar), Ambedkar Udyan (Ghorpadi), Shahu Modak Udyan (Koregaon Park), and Sant Gajanan Maharaj Udyan (Gokhalenagar).
Ashok Ghorpade, Superintendent of the Garden Department, said, “In 2018–19, heavy rainfall had damaged several gardens, and a budget head was created for those repairs. The same budget head is still being used for ongoing maintenance works, including the construction of boundary walls.”
PMC currently manages 204 gardens spread across approximately 21.91 lakh square metres. The civic body spends around ₹45 crore annually on garden maintenance, of which about ₹13 crore goes toward salaries and ₹32 crore toward daily upkeep, landscaping, civil and electrical works.
Despite this significant expenditure, many gardens in the city continue to face issues such as poor cleanliness, broken dustbins, irregular garbage collection, inadequate lighting and instances of anti-social activities.
While a few prominent gardens receive regular attention and attract large numbers of visitors, several others struggle due to limited funds and inconsistent maintenance.
