All vehicles now welcome on BRTS lanes in Pune

To ensure decongestion of traffic in the city, owing to the on-going metro work, officials have decided to open the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) lanes in the city for all vehicles.

Currently, only the PMPML buses ply on the BRTS lanes in city.

This decision was taken on Friday in the first meeting of the Pune unified metropolitan transport authority (Pumta) constituted by the state government, which is headed by Deepak Mhaiskar, Pune region’s divisional commissioner.

Addressing a press conference Mhaiskar said, “To ensure the decongestion of city roads, we have decided to open BRTS lanes in the city through a notification. While the instructions to the respective corporations have been given, the work will be executed in a few weeks time.”

He added, “Both the municipal commissioners of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) along with the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) chairperson and the police department will work in coordination and then the notification will be issued.”

Pumta, established by the state will act as a coordinating agency between all the other governing bodies in the city.

Along with the divisional commissioner, other key stakeholders in the Pumta are Pune district collector, Maha-metro chief, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) commissioner, Municipal Commissioners of both PMC and PCMC, PMPML chairperson, chief engineer of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) and Public Works Department (PWD) along with police commissioner of both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Mhaiskar said, “We will work as a facilitator and will not have direct control over the existing agencies. Pumta will only give recommendations to the respective governing agencies in the city and help them expedite the work on going projects.”

According to Mhaiskar, the motto behind the creation of Pumta, is to establish a proper communication between all the agencies.

He said, “With the establishment of the Pumta we aim at ensuring that the planning by any department is not done in isolation which eventually causes trouble at times. We at Pumta will create an integration of the policies and works by establishing a proper channel of internal communication.”

In the first meeting itself I have asked all the stakeholders to set a deadline for the completion of the projects, added Mhaiskar.

First Published:
Jun 22, 2019 15:53 IST

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