Pune: The standing committee of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Thursday postponed a decision on financial aid to an NGO to operate its English-medium schools. The proposal from the administration was to run five schools for nine years on a public-private partnership basis at an estimated expenditure of Rs 101.25 crore.It entailed paying the NGO Rs 25,000 per student per year to run the five schools. Based on an estimated 4,500 students, this annual expenditure would amount to Rs 11.25 crore.Chairman Shrinath Bhimale said, “Standing committee members wanted details of the NGO’s work that has been teaching for free in these schools for the last few years. The committee has now decided to reconsider the proposal and submit it through the education committee.”He added that the funding would place a substantial burden on the treasury, and a decision would be made only after careful consideration. Directions were then given to review the proposal.Currently, five English-medium schools in Somwar Peth, Bhavani Peth, Bopodi, Yerawada and Koregaon Park with 4,500 students are managed by the NGO. The civic body bears all costs related to the schools’ buildings, electricity bills, maintenance and repairs, student uniforms, direct benefit transfer, midday meals and other basic amenities.“The civic body lacked funds and handed over these govt schools to be run with CSR funds. Now, reversing this entirely, the BJP mayor and the municipal corporation are implementing a flawed experiment where private organisations retain control over these schools while govt provides the money,” AAP leader Mukund Kirdat said on Thursday.On objections raised by environmentalists, Bhimale said he would oppose felling of old trees. “If project modifications are possible to avoid tree cutting, those changes will be made. Trees more than 100 or 200 years will not be cut,” he added.
