Straight Answers

jawahar pardeshi, newly-elected chairman of the pune municipal transport (pmt) committee, on his plans to restore the pmt image in the eyes of the public which are the pressing issues to be addressed? allocation in the budget for procuring spare parts, replacing old buses and buying additional buses for optimum utilisation of the 725 routes in pune, are most important. besides this, we want to finalise the appointment of supervisors in each of the eight major bus depots, to oversee the smooth and timely plying of buses. how will you ensure the implementation of these plans? i have already demanded an immediate release of rs 1 crore from the pmc for spare parts. non availability of funds has disallowed about 100 buses from plying regular routes. this should now ease the frequency problem. besides, during the budget session in march 2002, we have asked for allocation to buy about 100 more buses. what other innovations are in the offering? the first is buying 'washing machines' for each of the depots to clean the buses everyday. the objective is to provide clean buses for the traveller. another significant measure is to invite corporates to sponsor buses to the tune of rs 10 lakh per bus. in exchange, we would advertise their products on the bus for ten years, free of cost. what about the mounting losses of pmt? the above measures will certainly improve pmt's balance sheet. the six-seaters will be sidelined if pmt improves the services, frequency and comfort for travellers.