Pune transport corp in profit despite management claims

The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) standing committee chairman, Ganesh Bidkar, on Monday claimed that the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) was in profit despite the claims of the management.

The transport utility should start new routes by acquiring more buses, he said. Bidkar, who is also a director of the PMPML, was speaking to reporters after the meeting of the board of directors of the transport utility.

He said the PMPML management has said its total annual income is Rs418. 53 crore and expenditure Rs432.40 crore, and hence it incurred a loss of Rs13.87 crore.

However, Bidkar added that despite claiming such a loss, the PMPML management has put up a proposal to deposit Rs8.5 crore in the bank. Also, it has not mentioned income on account of sale of scrap.

“The PMPML management has shown depreciation of Rs30.84 crore, but it is only in the books and not in reality. Considering all these factors, it is clear that the PMPML is in profit,” he claimed.

He said there is a dispute about buying new buses. The PMC standing committee decided earlier that only buses with doors on the left should be bought. A senior officer of the Central government is of the opinion that there should be level boarding for bus rapid transit system (BRTS) buses in the city and hence buses with doors on the right should be bought.

The board of directors asked the PMPML management to furnish a report within eight days about how the buses should be procured.

Meanwhile, the general body meeting of the PMC on Monday, saw independent corporator Ujwal Keskar raising the issue of the
BRTS.

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak said in a reply that the buses for BRTS in the city have doors on the left with bus stops on that side.

But according to a senior Central government official overseeing the implementing of the BRTS project, with such buses there was a compromise as the doors have to be on the right and there should be level boarding for passengers.

Pathak said the new fleet of 100 buses would be introduced for PMPML in the first phase by December.