Indian Express 08.04.2010
PMPML deadline ends, civic body to float new tender for 200 buses
Express News Service Tags : transport, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited Posted: Thursday , Apr 08, 2010 at 0111 hrs
Pune: Chairman of the civic standing committee Arvind Shinde on Wednesday said that since the one-day deadline given to the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) for withdrawing its tender for purchasing buses with doors on both sides ended, the civic body would soon issue a short-notice tender to purchase 200 regular buses, instead of those with doors on both sides.Shinde said that going for buses with doors on both sides would increase the expenses but decrease the sitting capacity.
On Tuesday, the PMC standing committee had taken on the PMPML for issuing work order for the purchase of 500 buses with doors on both sides. The Congress, Shiv Sena and BJP had joined hands to pass a resolution that the civic body would purchase buses and hand it over to PMPML if the public transport company fails to withdraw the work order by Wednesday.
The political parties had given a timeframe of one day before the PMPML administration to change its decision and withdraw the tender issued for purchasing the buses.
“As decided, we waited for one day and since there was no communication from any sides, we will soon issue a short-notice tender to purchase regular buses with doors on the left side. If the right-hand door buses were purchased, the sitting capacity would decrease by 10 seats . This way, these buses would reduce the capacity by thousands every day,” Shinde said.
“We have decided to issue a tender on our own, which could not be done before Tuesday, as it had to first come for discussion before the standing committee,” Shinde said.
“Not only PMPML, but PMC too has got its funds for the purchase. However, since PMPML tries to act in an independent way, the civic body would not put its money in the joint account,” Shinde said.
However, it was learnt that the PMPML issued work order for purchase of 500 buses with doors on both sides.
Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal said that the issue would be discussed after forming a coordination committee comprising all parties in the civic body. “We will discuss the issue once the committee is formed.”
