Journalism of Courage
In the wake of the controversy over the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) plan to purchase new buses,the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided that if the public transport body did not purchase the buses as mentioned in the Detailed Project Report (DPR),the committee would not release the funds for the purchase and purchase them on its own.
Standing committee chairman Arvind Shinde said,We took a decision during a meeting that if the PMPML did not go ahead with the purchase as mentioned in the DPR,the PMC would not give the funds to PMPML for it and buy the buses on its own. We will not allow the PMPML to purchase air-conditioned buses. Though there is a need for more buses,they need not necessarily be AC.
NCP corporators opposed the decision during the meeting,with five votes against the eleven votes in favour of it. Meanwhile,a meeting has been scheduled on March 27 at the Council Hall to discuss how the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was implemented in Ahmedabad,the requirements for it and whether it is feasible in Pune.
Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi,the MLAs in the city,senior officials and political leaders in the PMC as well as the PCMC will come together to understand the Ahmedabad pattern of BRTS. PMPML chief Dilip Band will make a presentation and the decision taken at the meeting will be implemented, Shinde said. Recently,the bus purchase procedure had come under the scanner as PMPML floated a tender to purchase 200 buses with doors on both the sides,without the approval of the board of directors.
