Pune: ‘Aapla Davakhana’ Scheme in Limbo Amid Government-Municipal Rift

Pune, 16th July 2025: The ambitious ‘Aapla Davakhana’ scheme, launched to provide free and accessible healthcare to the urban poor in Pune, has hit a roadblock due to a prolonged lack of coordination between the state government and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Despite plans to open 58 clinics across the city, only 11 are operational two years after the project was announced.

Of these, just one clinic functions under PMC jurisdiction, while the remaining ten are run by the state government. The delay in rolling out the remaining 47 centres is being attributed to a deadlock over site ownership and administrative approvals.

In 2023, the state government had approved the setting up of 58 ‘Aapla Davakhana’ clinics under the National Urban Health Mission, aimed at delivering essential services such as checkups, diagnostic tests, specialist consultations, and counselling, particularly in slum and low-income areas.

However, the conflict began when the then PMC commissioner insisted the clinics be set up only on civic-owned land. Out of the proposed 58 sites, 25 belonged to the PMC, while the rest were to be rented. The state had agreed to provide Rs 1 lakh in funding per clinic. But when the civic body pushed back against rented spaces, the government refused to approve the modified plan. Since then, the project has remained stalled.

As of now, the only PMC-run clinic is located in Wagholi. The state government has managed to independently open clinics at ten other locations: Dhanori, Khandve Nagar, Kalwad Road, Tingre Nagar, Swargate Chowk, Katraj, Tadiwala Road, Keshav Nagar, Uttam Nagar, and Wagholi–Lohgaon Road.

Sources say that the PMC Commissioner is likely to convene a high-level meeting in the coming week with officials from the multiple departments to resolve the impasse. The agenda includes finalizing clinic sites, infrastructure readiness, and fund allocation strategies.

The scheme, designed to benefit daily wage workers, hawkers, and economically vulnerable families, has so far failed to reach its intended scale. Due to administrative inaction, most targeted communities still lack access to the promised healthcare services. For now, the ‘Aapla Davakhana’ vision remains unfulfilled, more a paper promise than a public lifeline.