PARTICIPATORY BUDGET: Online suggestions cross 850 mark

Despite the city having a sizeable population working in the IT sector, the participatory budget initiative by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) saw only 335 online suggestions in 2012.

This year, PMC has already received 855 online suggestions till Monday, thanks to the awareness campaign started by dna and NGO Janwani.

The civic body had launched the participatory budget process seven years ago whereby citizens living within PMC limits can give suggestions regarding various development works in their localities provided the cost of each work should not exceed Rs5 lakh. PMC has allocated Rs50 lakh for each prabhag.

Of the 3,300 suggestions that were received last year, only 335 were online.

dna and Janwani have organised awareness workshops about participatory budget this year in various areas, including Model Colony, Koregaon Park, Hadapsar, NIBM Road and Bavdhan. With citizens turning up in large numbers at these gatherings and municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak extending the deadline for submission of suggestions to September 21, organisers, social activists and citizen groups are expecting more suggestions. 

Naim Keruwala, project consultant for Janwani said, “Citizen participation has increased this year. There is still one week left for citizens to file suggestions and I feel that the number of online suggestions is expected to cross the 1,000 mark.”

All the answers you wanted
Why take part in Participatory Budget?
This process helps citizens voice their opinion and decide on how to allocate part of the municipal budget for betterment of their neighbourhood. Rs50 lakh allocated under the participatory budget for your locality are over and above the money the corporator is allocated towards development work in your prabhag. For each prabhag, a total of Rs50 lakh has been allotted towards participatory budget with each work not exceeding Rs5 lakh.

What is the last date for submitting applications?
The last date is September 21, 2013.

How can you apply for the same?
Citizens can submit their suggestions in three ways:
* Visit your ward office, take the participatory budget form, fill it up and submit it there
* Download the participatory budget form from www.punecorporation.org fill it up and submit it in your ward office
* If you don’t have time for any of the above, the process is simple: Log on. Visit www.punecorporation.org and on the Home page click on ‘E application for Participatory budget 2014-15’ option and submit your suggestions online. Direct link: http:
//115.113.150.204:8080/EbudgetingProject2013/

Keep track of projects

If you want to track the works included in last year’s budget under participatory budget, you can go through Pune Municipal Corporation’s budget. It has a separate section on participatory budget and in case of any assistance, citizens can contact Janwani that has partnered with dna. They will help track the works for their respective prabhags.

On Twitter too
You can follow @dnaofpune and @PuneBudget on Twitter for all the latest updates on participatory budget.