State government should cover transport revenue gap in Pune

With the exception of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), all other political parties in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) opposed funding of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) to the tune of Rs30 crore, to cover the revenue gap of the transport utility.

In a meeting on Thursday in Mumbai, in the presence of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and urban development secretary MK Shrivastav, both the PMC and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) were asked to pay a total of Rs50 crore to PMPML to cover the loss.

The Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) opposed the state government’s directive.

Leader of house and group leader of Congress, Aba Bagul, on Friday said the agreement of PMC with the PMPML was over and legally the civic body did not owe a single rupee to the transport utility.

The directive of the state government to the PMC to provide Rs30 crore to PMPML should be discussed in the meeting of party leaders on July 12.

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, who belongs to the NCP, said the funds were to ensure better transport service to Puneites. But BJP leader Mukta Tilak said the public transport service in the city was in disarray due to inefficiency of the PMPML.

Shiv Sena leader Sham Deshpande suggested there should be de-merger of PMPML as the transport utility had failed to provide effective public transport. MNS leader Ravindra Dhangekar told reporters that it was not the responsibility of the PMC to cover the losses of the PMPML.

He pointed out that deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was instrumental in the merger of the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Transport (PCMT) into PMPML.

Since the state government had formed the company, it should now cover the revenue gap of PMPML, he added.

PMPML bus usage declines sharply

The number of passengers travelling by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has declined significantly.

As per the information collected by the president of PMP Pravasi Manch, an association of PMPML passengers, Jugal Rathi, the average per day passengers (APDP) of 12,55,713 in January 2010 has dipped to 9,39,646 in April 2011 — a decline by 3,16,067 passengers or 25% within 16 months.

Rathi has collected the information using Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

He said that there has been a steady decline in the number of passengers using the PMPML buses. The APDP were 11.17 lakh in May 2010 and the figure declined to 10.66 lakh in November 2010. In January, 2011, the APDP was 10.81 lakh.

Citing the need for an annual increase in the number of passengers using the transport utility buses, Rathi said the target of proportion of trips of citizens by public transport buses is set up at 80% in the comprehensive mobility plan (CMP).

Presently the share is only 10% exposing the lax approach of the transport utility management towards improving the services.

The social activist fears deliberate apathy among the PMPML leadership with the ulterior motive to close down the transport utility. He said that there was a serious problem of high number of “off road buses” in the PMPML.

In April 2011, the average per day buses on road was only 1,141 as compared to the total fleet of 1,548 buses. Thus, 407 buses were off the road per day in the month showing the PMPML’s poor management of buses.

No PMPML official was forthcoming with an explanation.

Speaking to DNA, Pune mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, who is one of the PMPML directors, said the decline in passenger strength may be because of availability of less number of buses as one can see many passengers waiting at bus stops.

He said new buses would be soon inducted into the PMPML fleet and situation would improve.