Indian Express 13.01.2009
City to get 500 buses in 2 months
PMC standing committee sanctions Rs 96 cr for PMPML
The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal (PMPML) will finally get 500 new buses in next two months with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) standing committee sanctioning Rs 96 crore for the purpose.
Earlier, plans for better public transport were never implemented and Pune continued to have a fleet of old and ill-maintained buses, rendering public transport a nightmare on the city roads. PMC standing committee chairman Nilesh Nikam said money has been given to purchase the buses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). According to the proposal, he said, the PMPML will purchase 400 CNG-run semi low-floor buses and100 diesel-run low-floor buses.
The total cost for the purchase of the buses is Rs 162 crore with financial assistance of Rs 81 crore from the Union government, Rs 32 crore from the state government and Rs 49 crore from the PMC.The PMC has already received Rs 40 crore from the Centre. The standing committee has approved Rs 96 crore, including Rs 56 crore from the PMC,” he said. Under JNNURM, 50 per cent contribution will be by union government, 20 per cent by state government and 30 per cent by the respective civic body.
A total of 1,722 buses are run by the PMPML in the city of which 1,296 are owned by the public transport while 426 buses are hired.
“We are happy that the PMC has approved the money to purchase the buses. We will make an attempt to get all the 500 buses on road The central government has sanctioned 650 buses for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad under the JJNNURM, of which 500 buses were allotted to PMC and 150 to PCMC. “The 500 buses should have been inducted in December. However, that could not happen due to fund shortage,” Karle said. The PMPML has decided not to push for air-conditioned buses under JNNURM but under public-private partnershipwithin next two months,” said Shirish Karle, chairman and managing director (additional charge) of PMPML.
