PUNE: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday emphasised the urgent need to reduce the vehicle population in the city by strengthening the eco-friendly public transport system.
Fadnavis was speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the proposed multi-modal transport hub at Swargate junction which also saw handing over of 25 new electric buses and six women’s only Tejaswini buses to Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) and opening of several Pune Smart City projects including Integrated Command and Control Centre, Place Making Projects among others.
He said, “If the number of vehicles continues to grow unabated, Pune, which is known as educational and cultural capital of India, will soon get a new identity, that of the most polluted city in the country.”
The multi-modal hub will integrate the public transport services, Metro rail, PMPML, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses, autorickshaws, private vehicles and is expected to curb traffic congestion at the busy junction. The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) will execute the project to ensure better coordination among the transport services.
The hub will come up on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and will have a total investment of over Rs 2,000 crore. The hub is planned to be 105 metre tall with about 50 floors consisting of 25 floors above the ground and five underground floors. The total built up area of the building is expected to be around 65 lakh square feet.
THE EVENT WAS ATTENDED BY UNION HUMAN
Resources Minister Prakash Javadekar, city MP Anil Shirole, several MLAs including Parvati region MLA Madhuri Misal in whose constituency the multi-modal hub will come up and Mayor Mukta Tilak. Sonia Barbry, Consul General of France in Mumbai and Nicolas Fornage, Regional Director, AFD India, and Bangladesh were also present for the event.
ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE AT THE GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY
3500 BUSES IN PMPML BY END OF 2020: CM
“We have planned to buy about 1000 buses by the end of this year and we will add more buses so that by the end of 2020, PMPML will have 3500 buses in its fleet,” said Fadnavis. He said that if the transport body maintains a frequency of 4-5 minutes on every route, it will help it win the confidence of passengers who will choose to travel in a PMPML bus instead of using a personal vehicle.
HCMTR WORK TO START FROM JUNE
High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) is a long pending project of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Fadnavis gave instruction to Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao to start work in June at any cost. He said, ?Corporation will also issue Expression of Interest ( EoP) next week.”
SIX NEW TEJASWINI BUSES FOR WOMEN
Tata Motors announced the delivery of six women-friendly Tata Ultra 9m Diesel Midi buses to the PMPML. To ensure the safety and security of women commuters, the bus is equipped with best-in-class features such as Fire Detection & Suppression System (FDSS). The CCTV cameras providing Intelligence Transport Systems (ITS) for public information in addition to the electronic destination display boards supported via GPS. Tata Motors will be delivering the remaining 27 buses out of total 33 buses order by March 2019.
