After the Metro rail proposal was cleared by the elected members of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday,the city MLAs on Friday agreed to do their bit to get the state government clearance at the earliest for the speedy implementation of the project. Vinayak Nimhan (Congress),Madhuri Misal (BJP),Bapusaheb Pathare (NCP),Ramesh Wanjale (MNS),Chandrakant Mokate and Mahadeo Babar (both Shiv Sena) attended a discussion on the proposed Pune Metro rail project organised at the Pune Union of Working Journalists on Friday. We will definitely try to get a push for the Metro rail project from the state government. During the next Assembly session,we will take up the issue and see to it that the project is forwarded to the Union government by August. If the city MPs push the project with the union government,there will not be much difficulty in going ahead with the project by December, Pathare said. Dipti Chaudhary,who is to be sworn in as an MLC,appealed that there should be no politics involved in the Metro project. A transport system to accommodate large number of passengers is the need of the hour. It will be our endeavour that the proposal gets a push from the state government for sanction from the central government. But there were words of caution as well. The PMC does not have the capacity and expertise to implement such a huge project. Therefore,a special body of experts to give an insight and suggestions for the project is necessary, Nimhan said. Wanjale said the MNS was not against the Metro project. But what the ruling parties did with the BRT project should not happen with the Metro. No serious study has yet been carried out for the Metro.
