Parisar has said that the ESR only gives partial facts and figures about traffic and transportation in the city, thereby giving a misleading overview of the situation.
Pune-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Parisar has slammed the Environment Status Report (ESR) of the Pune city prepared by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) terming it an eyewash. In a press statement, Parisar has said that the ESR only gives partial facts and figures about traffic and transportation in the city, thereby giving a misleading overview of the situation.
Parisar has alleged the deviation from the goals set by the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) due to the current flawed policies has been omitted. "Since the ESR is prepared by an arm of the PMC, it is not surprising that it has failed to objectively assess the actions of the PMC,'' the statement said.
Programme director of Parisar Ranjit Gadgil has pointed out the problems in ESR about the CMP in a letter to municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak. Parisar said the city's CMP, if implemented, will address the issues of traffic and ease the pressure on air, water, land and green cover. The CMP envisaged that by 2030, 50% of all trips made by citizens would be by foot or bicycle and 40% by public transport. It also sets other important goals such as 55 buses per lakh population, zero fatalities and footpaths on all roads.
Parisar said the ESR does not provide data for different modes of public transport, bus fleet per lakh population or even basic data on accidents or fatalities. "It is not possible to judge whether the city is moving towards (or away) from the goals set by the CMP and what corrective actions need to be taken,'' the statement said.
According to Parisar, the ESR mentioned various schemes such as Pay and Park, one-way schemes, multi-storey parking lots and synchronised traffic signals in the 'response' section. "But one-way schemes have only helped motor vehicles, while causing greater problems for pedestrians and cyclists. Multi-storey parking lots will not attract customers as long as parking on streets remains cheap but the ESR is silent about this aspect,'' the statement said.
The statement also said the ESR does not make a strong case for rapid strengthening of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) fleet and restricts itself to claims such as "428 buses will be added in next 5 months''. "The buses per lakh population is currently only about 31 and way short of the target of 55 mentioned in the CMP,'' the statement said.
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