PMC to raise ₹400-cr bonds for river project, not use own funds reveals RTI

While the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is planning to issue municipal bonds worth Rs400 crores to raise money for the implementation of the river rejuvenation project, a Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that the civic body already has fixed deposits (FDs) worth Rs2,955 crores. Hence, civic activists are now questioning why the corporation has to borrow money when it can use its own money for the execution of the project.

Recently, while presenting the civic budget for the year 2023-24, municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar announced the issuing of municipal bonds worth Rs400 crores to raise money for the river rejuvenation project which is being implemented with the help of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Civic activist Velenkar said, “I got written information under the RTI Act that the civic body has FDs worth Rs2,955 crores. Of the total FDs, FDs worth Rs2,200 crores are held in four nationalised banks while FDs worth Rs755 crores are held in government securities. The interest rate on FDs is lower than that on municipal bonds. Then why is the PMC not using its own money instead of raising it through bonds!”

Earlier too, the PMC had issued municipal bonds worth Rs200 crores to raise money for the implementation of the 24x7 water supply project. Interestingly, while the PMC had raised money through municipal bonds, the money raised was not utilised for the 24x7 project but kept in FDs. Velenkar said that despite having prior experience of not utilising the loan amount, the civic body is repeating the action and putting an additional burden on taxpayers.