PMC site has no info on NGOs it is funding

Pune Mirror: Pune: Tuesday, 29 December 2015.

This is despite state govt's instructions to all civic bodies to maintain clarity on audit reports of bodies it is donating lakhs to; PMC to dole out Rs 30L this year

Despite the state's firm instructions to all local self-government bodies under it earlier this month, asking them to publish annual audit reports of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to whom they donate funds every year, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) appears to have taken no steps to do so just yet, raising several doubts about the lack of transparency around the movement of lakhs of rupees.

Every year, PMC distributes Rs 30 lakh to various social organisations as 'donations' however, it has not yet published a single piece of information about any of these on its official website. The amount varies from a minimum of Rs 5,000 to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh to a body. In the 2015- 16 budget, PMC had allocated a total of Rs 30 lakh for such donations in the coming year, mentioning the names of more than 20 organisations from across the city. Besides, the corporation also gives Rs 25 lakh to the Pune International Marathon Trust in donations.

The Centre had previously instructed all states to make it mandatory to publish information on official websites, regarding the annual audit reports of NGOs that are given donations by government bodies. Thereafter, Maharashtra had issued an order to civic bodies under it on December 14, 2015, referring to the central diktat under the Right to Information (RTI) Act's Section 4, which necessitated it to disclose all information on respective departments' websites.

Asked about the Rs 25 lakh donation to the Pune International Marathon, the event's trust secretary, Pralhad Sawant, said, "We do not take this money from PMC to use it goes directly to the marathon winners. In fact, the money does not even come into our account and is only used as prize money. So, it has nothing to do with the trust's annual audit report."

A trustee of one of the NGOs that has applied for PMC donations told Mirror on condition of anonymity, "Earlier, it was easy to take funds from PMC without furnishing documents, such as the charity commissioner's certificate, balance sheets, recommendation letters, quotations for work, etc. Now, we have to fulfil several criteria mentioned in official forms, without which donations are not disbursed to us. We submit all information to PMC it is the latter's duty to upload it on their website."

Quick to assure immediate action on any matter, but careful with concrete details, PMC additional commissioner Rajendra Jagtap said, "PMC will upload this information soon."

Criticising the PMC's inaction, Sajag Nagrik Manch co-founder and activist Vishwas Sahasrabuddhe said, "The civic body is giving public money to these NGOs so, it should be able to produce all information about them to upload on their website to let the public be aware of the work being done."

Civic activist Vivek Velankar echoed, "Since PMC funds events like the Pune International Marathon and other programmes under different NGOs, the annual reports and audits of these organisations should be available on the PMC website. For, it is any citizen's right to know how his or her money is being used."