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Mundhe’s actions leave Pune private bus contractors with heavy unpaid fines
Siddharth Shirole, director of PMPML, said due to the heavy fines imposed, private contractors may discontinue their services
The Pune mahanagar parimandal mahamandal limited (PMPML) is facing the heat of IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe’s exit. While commuter associations welcomed the disciplinary actions taken by Mundhe, the private contractors were not too happy with his measures. Having erred on various occasions, the private contractors have unpaid fines touching ₹90 crore.
“The intelligent transport management system (ITMS) system has its own lacunae. Over that, the charges levied for skipping signals were changed at the will of (then) chief managing director (CMD), Mundhe. It was within the rights of CMD. He has not done anything illegal, but he fined them heavily,” said Siddharth Shirole, director of PMPML. “Fines kept increasing to such an extent that fines to the tune of ₹80-90 crore were levied and are pending,” he added.
Nayana Gunde is the chief managing director of PMPML, now. Mundhe was heading PMPML for 11 months before he was transferred in February this year to Nashik. Mundhe is now the Nashik civic commissioner.
The number of bus breakdowns had reduced from 3,893 in 2015-16 to 2,523 in 2016-17 owing to measures implemented by Mundhe, including the ₹ 5,000 fine imposed for every breakdown. Within the first nine months of 2018 (till September 10), 2,481 breakdowns have been recorded. Shirole cites the lack of communication between PMPML and the private contractors as the reason for the bus breakdowns. The reduced number of breakdowns corresponds to Mundhe’s tenure as CMD of PMPML.
Shirole said that due to the very heavy fines imposed on them, the private contractors may discontinue their services. “An audit committee consisting of people from IT departments of PMC, PCMC, PMPML and private contractors has been appointed. The process is on,” said a PMPML senior manager from committee member requesting anonymity.
