Beleaguered BRTS may get a new look

Put on the back foot due to a surge of 18 exceptions and observations by the Union urban development ministry, the civic body is now contemplating to prepare a revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) for its ambitious-yet-beleaguered Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).

The Rs1,500-crore project was to be implemented on 35 city roads. It was launched in 2007 on the Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar route and even that has been under fire from various quarters. With the ministry raising exceptions and observations, the fate of entire project hangs in balance.

SK Lohia, the officer-on-special duty (OSD) from the ministry, had raised the exceptions and observations in a special meeting held in New Delhi last August.

Other than the commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Mahesh Pathak, senior officers of the civic body, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited, and various stakeholders of the project were present during the meeting.

During the meeting, Lohia observed that nine important routes were left out “inadvertently” by the PMC in the DPR that was submitted to the ministry. That was the reason why the ministry disapproved it. Also, the civic work of BRT was over in six routes in Yerwada and Balewadi. But later, it was proposed that these routes were in low demand and be left out of the BRT corridor.

Moreover, in his report, Lohia referred to these exceptions and observations and recommended that funds allocated to the PMC under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) be now diverted to develop BRT on other nine important routes.

When DNA, which has a copy of the minutes of special meeting held by Lohia, asked additional city engineer, Vivek Kharwadkar, for his comment, he chose to remain silent. Citing the model code of conduct that is in force for the civic polls, he said that it would be inappropriate to discuss the issue now.

The BRT project in Pune has been in the eye of a storm ever since it was launched. The pilot project was executed by the PMC just prior to the PMC elections of 2007. Major General (Rtd) SCN Jatar and other activists have been alleging that the hurry and lack of planning for the implementation of the BRT was due to political pressure by tainted city MP Suresh Kalmadi.

With the civic elections just around the corner, the directive assumes importance as the Opposition parties had blamed the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party for the failure of the BRTS.

Senior officials, while speaking to DNA, stated that acting on the instructions by Lohia, the PMC had asked the consultant to study the suggestions. “The consultant’s report would be ready in 15 days, and then we would take a call on it,” the officers said.