Underground Metro call gets support

While the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyan,which has long been advocating an underground Metro,today unanimously welcomed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawars announcement supporting the same,PMCs Independent corporator Ujjwal Keskar said he would table a modified metro resolution in the next civic general body meeting.

There is a demand for an underground metro in Pune. While the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyan,which has long been advocating an underground Metro,today unanimously welcomed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawars announcement supporting the same,PMCs Independent corporator Ujjwal Keskar said he would table a modified metro resolution in the next civic general body meeting.

The copy of modified resolution is ready and would be placed before the next civic general body scheduled to take place on November 18, said Keskar. Reacting to this,NCP city unit president Vandana Chavan said her party would support the underground metro resolution. Our party leader Ajit Pawar had already announced it was a mistake to support elevated Metro in view of what happened to Metros in other cities….therefore we support the move, she said. Congress city unit chief Abhay Chhajed however said,Let them say how and from where they are going to generate funds from. Shiv Sena city unit president Shyam Deshpande said,We have been supporting underground metro right from the beginning.

The earlier resolution,passed in the civic general body was over a year-and-half ago,was in support of an elevated Metro. The resolution was forwarded to the state government which was expected to forward it to the central government. However,last week Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced that his government had given given in-principle approval to the elevated Metro and his government was working on a financial model. However,four days after the announcement,the NCP announced it would support an underground Metro. We compliment the Deputy CM for taking a decision in the interest of the city…We have always been demanding an underground Metro in Pune, said industriallist Arun Firodia at a press conference organised by Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyan on Monday. Underground Metro expert Narendra Bhagwat and Dr Ketan Gokhale,former MD,Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd and Vivek Inamdar,convenor,Pedestrains First,were also present.

All of them Firodia,Bhagwat,Gokhale and Inamdar made a strong pitch for underground Metro which they said was preferable over elevated metro if corridor is on busy roads. Comparing elevated metro with underground Metro,they said in several aspects whether it was cost-wise,environmentally,construction-wise,safety wise or when saving trees and historical monuments,underground metro was far ahead. Bhagwat said since Pune was in seismic zone four,there could be an earthquake threat to an elevated metro,but not an underground metro. “Besides,we will get rock as byproduct while implementing underground metro plan. This crushed rock as byproduct can help us in laying roads, Bhagwat said.

The biggest advantage of implementing underground metro plan,said Firodia,was that there would be no hassles over land acquisition.

Technical issues involved: Chavan

At a city function,Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said,The metro is the most sophisticated transport system. As far as Pune is concerned,there are some technical issues that need to be sorted out before any further comments can be made on it.

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Ajit Pawar