E-Paper
Shortage of buses for election duty in Pune
As there was a shortage of 150 buses, 75 were taken from the RTO and 73 from private tourist bus companies.
While the Pune district election administration has got 602 buses from MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) and 968 buses from PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited) for the election process in 21 constituencies of the district after paying the pending dues of both transport bodies, it is still 150 buses’ short due to which it took the help of the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) and private tourist bus operators. Ultimately, 75 buses from the RTO and 73 private buses were taken into service for the election period. This, despite spending ₹3.5 crore in the last Lok Sabha (LS) elections.
With voting for the assembly elections to be held on November 20, a total 1,720 buses had been arranged by the MSRTC and PMPML to transport the voting machines to the polling centres on polling day. However, the scheduled state transport (ST) buses’ rounds were starting due to which only 602 buses were provided by the MSRTC while the PMPML provided 968 buses. As there was a shortage of 150 buses, 75 were taken from the RTO and 73 from private tourist bus companies.
As per the information shared by the Pune district election administration, voting machines will be transported to 8,462 polling stations from the election offices in each constituency. Accordingly, as some polling stations are nearby, the administration has planned for 12 hours while it has planned for 24 hours in case of distant polling stations.
Swapnil Bhosle, deputy regional transport officer, Pune, said, “A demand was made for buses by the district election administration. Accordingly, a total 73 such buses have been planned to be provided by the passenger transport companies and the department. These buses will be provided as per the rate fixed for the vehicles during the election period.”
A rate of ₹55 per hour per kilometre has been fixed for 1,570 buses by the MSRTC and PMPML. As the payments were stopped in the last election, both the departments first sent a letter demanding that their dues be cleared. Accordingly, ₹1.61 crore in MSRTC dues and ₹2.96 crore in PMPML dues was cleared by the Pune district administration totalling ₹3.66 crore.
Minal Kalaskar, deputy election officer, said, “After the distribution of voting machines, GPS system will be installed in all the buses for them to reach on time as per the voting schedule. By applying GPS to the vehicles, it is possible for the user to see the current location of the respective vehicle until it moves from one place to another. Information about whether or not the vehicles are passing through the designated route and how will also be available at a click.”
