The proposal to was rejected by the standing committee in spite of the support by the ruling Nationalist Congress Party.
In a dramatic development, the proposal to build an underground metro instead of an elevated one on the 15-km Vanaz to Ramwadi route was rejected by the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday in spite of the support by the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Doing away with political alliances, members of the Shiv Sena and the NCP joined hands to support the proposal put by Shiv Sena corporators, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress opposed it. The fate of the proposal was decided by the casting vote by chairman, Ganesh Bidkar (BJP) as votes on both sides were equal.
Four members of the NCP and two members of the Shiv Sena were joined by BJP member, Sunil Kamble, who belongs to the Munde faction to vote in favour of the resolution for the underground metro.
These seven votes were equaled by five members of the Congress and two members of the BJP. Hence, there was a need for the casting vote. NCP member, Baburao Chandere and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) member, Rajabhau Barate were absent.
The general body of the PMC had approved a proposal for a 15-km elevated metro project from Vanaz to Ramwadi at a cost of Rs2,593 crore in June 2010 and it was sent to the state government for approval.
Chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan had declared recently in Pune that the city needs a metro and it would be soon developed. He had informed that the state government was working on a financial package for the project. After Chavan supported the elevated metro project in the city, his deputy and leader of the NCP, Ajit Pawar changed the stand of the party and said there should be an underground metro project instead of an elevated one. He said people had a bad experience of elevated metro in Mumbai and Bangalore and hence the NCP had corrected its stand and was demanding an underground metro project. The Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyan (PMJA), a group of civic activists working on the issue, had welcomed Ajit Pawar's stand.
On this background, Shiv Sena member, Prithviraj Sutar and others had moved a proposal before the standing committee to build the metro project from Vanaz to Ramwadi as an underground one instead of the elevated one.
Shiv Sena has been consistently demanding there should be only underground metro project in the city.
The BJP, at the standing committee meeting, later moved a resolution to build an underground metro and an elevated metro in the city as necessary, depending upon the opinion of the technical and economic advisors of the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC).
The resolution was passed with the support of the BJP and the Congress. The Shiv Sena and Sunil Kamble opposed the resolution, while the NCP abstained on this resolution. This resolution by the BJP would be considered in the GB meeting of the PMC.
There is a similar proposal before the GB of the PMC to build an underground metro project. This proposal is moved by independent corporator, Ujwal Keskar and asks the civic body to review the earlier proposal of the GB for the elevated metro and instead to develop an underground metro. This proposal would be considered at the GB meeting on November 18.
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