Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) eyes 1,000 buses, thanks to P Chidambaram

The Union budget 2013-14 presented by finance minister P Chidambaram has failed to cheer up the common man. However, finance minister’s announcement on making provision to provide 10,000 buses to various cities has piqued interest of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML).The civic body is already planning to prepare a proposal in order to add some buses to its fleet.

The fundings for 10,000 buses will be provided under the Centre’s Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. In fact, Chidambaram during his budget speech mentioned that the allocation for the same would be increased to Rs14,873 crore from Rs7,383 crore in the current year. He also mentioned that 14,000 buses were sanctioned between 2009 and 2012, which have made a remarkable contribution to the urban transportation.

Pravin Ashtikar, joint managing director of PMPML, said, “We are planning to prepare a proposal which will be sent to the Centre through the state government. We will be demanding for 1,000 buses. At present, we have around 1,500 buses in good condition and plan to increase the number to 2,300. We intend to provide good services to Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad residents.”

However, Harshad Abhyankar of Save Pune Traffic Movement feels that by merely increasing the number of buses, the traffic problems of the city won’t improve. Abhyankar said, “There is no doubt that Pune needs more buses but the authorities need to plan the roads also accordingly. They need to discourage use of private vehicles in order to make public transport a success in the city.”