Pune Municipal Corporation. (Express File Photo) The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has not only exhausted its budgetary provision of Rs 2.7 crore to meet the medical expenses of its corporators, it needs more to cover pending medical bills submitted by the representatives. The standing committee of the civic body has now permitted the administration to divert an unspent allocation of Rs 1.5 crore – which had been set aside to introduce smart health cards for citizens – to meet the expense.
Considering the total medical expenditure of the 169 sitting corporators so far, the average monthly expense of each corporator works out to over Rs 21,000 – more than their monthly salary.
There are 164 elected corporators and five nominated corporators in the PMC, which pays them a monthly salary of Rs 20,000, besides a remuneration of Rs 100 for each meeting of the general body.
In a proposal tabled in the Standing Committee, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said the PMC had set aside Rs 2.7 crore in its budget for the medical treatment of corporators, including medicines and hospitalisation. “The budgetary provision of Rs 2.7 crore made for incurring medical expenditure of corporators is almost over. A total of Rs 2,69,77,000 has been spent so far,” he said.
“Bills totalling Rs 22,60,673 submitted by corporators for medicines and hospitalisation are yet to be paid. Also, several medical bills of corporators are pending with the civic administration for reimbursement and additional funds are required to meet this expenditure,” Kumar said.
Going by the total medical expenditure claimed by sitting corporators till now, the PMC has received bills of Rs 2.92 crore till November, with four more months of the financial year remaining.
“The PMC has been covering the medical expenses of corporators for long. It not only includes hospitalisation, but also the regular medicines required by corporators,” said Hemant Rasane, BJP leader and standing committee chairperson. He added that the civic body also covers the medical expenses of former corporators and eligible urban poor.
The corporation had earlier made a budgetary provision of Rs 1.5 crore for a smart health card facility for citizens availing services under various health schemes of the PMC. The administration has stated that the fund is likely to remain unused in the current financial year as the project is yet to take off.
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