Beed collector Deepa Mudhol Munde has been appointed chairman and managing director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). The state government had appointed Ashish Yerlekar to the post on July 1, but he failed to join. On Monday, the government canceled his appointment and announced Munde’s name, who, as per an earlier order, was asked to join as Sangli collector.
Outgoing CMD Sanjay Kolte served only for eight months. Munde will serve as the 22nd CMD of the transport body. However, the frequent transfers of CMDs are being heavily criticised by residents and activists.
As per the recent breakdown data posted by the transport body on its website, the average daily breakdown figures in March was at 47
Vivek Velankar, a civic activist, criticized the state government’s decision and said, “Within a year, it is the third CMD of the PMPML. As per norms, it is expected that any IAS officer should serve in the post for at least three years, but officers are transferred before completion of their tenure. This shows the government’s apathy towards public transport.”
22nd CMDs in last 17 years
“In the last 17 years, this is the 22nd transfer. How will an organization grow with this instability?” he added.
According to residents, the frequent transfers of CMDs are impacting progress, and projects are slowing down. According to activists, several important projects, including tracking buses in real-time, the launch of a new cellphone app for passengers, increasing the transport body’s share in the overall passenger traffic of the city, and improving the situation of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), are still in progress.
10000 buses sought
Speaking to Free Press Journal, Amit Singh, founder of Pune Samwad, said, “Today Pune has 1,200 buses which ferry 12 lakh rides or over 6 lakh people per day to and from. Pune needs 10,000 buses. They need to be clean, WiFi enabled, with charging points and AC, preferably battery operated."
"The service needs to be app-based, which gives the public an idea of when the bus is expected and if you’ll get a seat on it for sure. That’s how the 1.2 crore people in the PMPML service region will be able to access public transportation within 500 meters across Pune’s 1,400 km road length, from wherever they are every 5 or 10 minutes. We need to create a dependable surplus of public transportation before people choose to switch over from using personal vehicles to avoid traffic. That’s the need of the hour," he added.
PMPML CMDs from 2007
1. Subarao Patil
2. Ashwini Kumar
3. Nitin Khade
4. Mahesh Jhagde (additional charge)
5. Shirish Karle (additional charge)
6. Dilip Baburao Band (additional charge)
7. RN Joshi
8. RR Jadhav (additional charge)
9. Shrikar Pardeshi (additional charge)
10. Omprakash Bakoria (additional charge)
11. Kunal Kumar (additional charge)
12. Abhishek Krishna
13. Kunal Kumar (additional charge)
14. Tukaram Mundhe
15. Nayana Gunde
16. Rajendra Jagtap
17. Kunal Khemnar (additional charge)
18. Laxminarayan Mishra
19. Om Prakash Bakoria
20. Sachindra Pratap Singh
21. Sanjay Kolte
