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PMPML asks PMRDA to pay ₹187 crore for operational losses
Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has asked Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) for ?187 crore to make up for operational losses and lands for the depot from them, due to increased commuter numbers from PMRDA-adjacent villages. PMPML has also requested nine plots for bus depots.
The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has asked Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) for ₹187 crore to make up for operational losses and lands for the depot from them.
As the number of commuters from PMRDA-adjacent villages has grown, the public transportation system has deployed 490 buses to provide transportation in the PMRDA area.
Omprakash Bakoria, chairman and managing director of PMPML, stated, “We have requested that the PMRDA report operational losses of ₹187 crore. We have also requested that the PMRDA hand over nine plots so that the PMPML can build bus depots in those areas.”
According to PMPML officials, over 2.5 lakh passengers commute in the PMRDA area on a daily basis. After Pune city, the PMRDA area has the most passengers using the transportation service.
“Previously, the PMRDA commissioner was not a member of the PMPML board of directors. It was making it difficult to obtain money from them. The state government has now appointed a PMRDA commissioner to the PMPML board of directors, which will aid in obtaining funding from them “Bakoria explained.
The PMPML was formed after merging two separate public transport bodies to cater to the bus service for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation areas. However there has been a lot of demand from rural areas to run the buses in the PMRDA region, said officials. The political leaders are also often seen putting up pressure to run the buses in the rural areas as they are cheaper than the MSRTC buses.
On the other hand, the civic activist and political leaders from urban areas are opposing it as the operating losses are borne by PMC and PCMC taxpayers.
By considering more operation losses for buses running in the PMRDA region and the demand to run the buses for these areas, PMPML decided to incorporate the PMRDA commissioner as the board of directors of the PMPML.
Recently the PMPML board of directors had given the approval to appoint the PMRDA commissioner as a director of PMPML. Immediately after that the state government gave a nod to this proposal. It would now help to get financial and other infrastructure-related help from PMRDA.
According to PMPML, the public transport body’s average revenue from passengers within PMRDA’s boundaries has reached Rs12.33 crores per month. Every day, approximately six lakh twelve thousand passengers use the bus facility in Pune city, generating a monthly revenue of ₹25 crores.
