Medical college The Pune civic body has allocated Rs 9 crore to set up a medical college in the city. Priyadarshani Indira Gandhi Medical College is slated to come up on the vacant land at Naidu Hospital and will train 200 students annually. With the expanding city limits,a number of private hospitals have sprung up in the city,however,there is only the Sassoon General Hospital that provides medical services to the poorest of the poor. Other municipal corporations in the state have their own medical collegesfour Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation colleges and one each in Thane and Nagpur. We have proposed the college on Naidu Hospital premises. The purpose of this move is to rope in 200 doctors in Pune civic hospitals as there is a dearth of medical professionals at these hospitals, standing committee chairman Arvind Shinde said. We are sure to get permission for the college from the state by December and admission process could be started in March next year, he added. Free cycles Two years after the PMC initiated a scheme of free bus travel for standard V to X students,the civic body has come up with a proposal to provide bicycles to students from standard VII to X. In the first phase,only 50,000 cycles will be distributed and students who get the cycles will not be allowed to avail the free bus travel to school facility. An amount of Rs 4 crore has been set aside in the budget for this initiative. In the olden times,Pune was known as the city of bicycles. With the rising vehicular population,pollution of all kinds is also on the rise. We provide Rs 14 crore to the PMPML for the free pass scheme. If we distribute bicycles in addition to that scheme,we will be able to bring that amount down and develop the cycle culture once again, Shinde said. Luxury buses An allocation of Rs 12.50 crore has been made to acquire 25 luxury buses specially for IT professionals. People from the IT profession think that travelling by a bus is not comfortable. We are going to acquire special buses that will provide laptops,mobile phone charging facility. The PMC plans to rope in similar luxury buses to ferry commuters from far flung areas like Warje,Kothrud,Katraj,Hinjewadi to to the Pune International Airport. We will also buy a few more buses for the Pune Darshan service,as currently there are only two buses,that are generally overbooked, Shinde said. During the budget presentation,Shinde directed civic commissioner Mahesh Zagade to prepare a working development plan for the proposed Metro project. As the Chief Mminister Prithviraj Chavan has given a nod to the Pune Metro rail proposal and also promised to make allocations in the upcoming budget,the administration can prepare a working DP for the Metro project. Like last year,Rs 25 crore has been allocated for the Metro project this year. Shinde has also proposed a mini glass train at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park,Katraj,to be named after zoo elephant Sumitra. Rs 1 crore has been allocated for the particular project. With this bus,tourists would be able to see wild animals from close quarters without disturbing them, he said. Convicted corporator The name and photograph of disqualified corporator Datta Khade,sentenced to life in a murder case,has been left out of the annual budget this year. Only the name of the ward Modern College has been mentioned. Khade was given a lifer along with two others on January 30,2009,for killing former wrestler and construction material supplier Rajesh Pardeshi.
