Maharashtra budget highlights for Pune: AIIMS, infra projects, tourism development and memorials

Memorials, monument and skywalk

A memorial to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj at Tulapur at a cost of Rs 270 crore, a Bhidewada National Monument in Pune, a memorial to Sant Jaganade Maharaj at Maval at a cost of Rs 66.11 crore and Rs 333.56 crore for a skywalk in Lonavala and special development authorities for the Ekvira Devi Temple in Pune have been announced.

Outer Ring Road and railway project

The long-pending Pune-Nashik railway project has been assured of funding for land acquisition while Outer Ring Road has got a budgetary provision of Rs 1,519 crore for land acquisition. The government has decided to participate in developing railway lines including two lines between Pune and Lonavala.

“The projects were announced in the past but the allocation made in the budget has confirmed their implementation. These projects will speed up as the finance minister is personally pushing them,” said an official of the district administration.

An AIIMS in Pune

An All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be established in Pune. “This will be the first AIIMS in western Maharashtra after the one in Nagpur in the Vidarbha region,” Dinesh Waghmare, Maharashtra Medical Education Secretary told The Indian Express.

The AIIMS will be set up at Aundh, where the premises of the district hospital have been selected because of the availability of unused land there.

The AIIMS’ various objectives include developing patterns of teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in all its branches so as to demonstrate a high standard of medical education to all medical colleges and allied institutions.

There are more than 65 medical colleges in the state with an annual intake of 10,000 students for the MBBS programme. Of these, 25 are run by the state government and six by municipal corporations, while and 22 are private medical colleges and 13 are deemed-to-be universities.

According to officials, the proposed AIIMS is also expected to reduce the burden on state-run BJ Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital. Dr Nagnath Yempalle, district civil surgeon, said the campus would be spread across 85 acres approximately.

The interim budget has also announced plans to set up chemotherapy centres in all districts.

Dr Manisha Karmarkar, CEO of DPU Super Specialty Hospital in Pimpri, said, “The benefits of this step will be multifaceted as it will boost the healthcare ecosystem of the state, especially in the rural areas, create employment opportunities, open doors to healthcare innovations, and most importantly, strengthen the position of Maharashtra as a robust destination for medical tourism.”