Activists trash BRTS, want pilot study report

PUNE: City-based Nagrik Chetna Manch (NCM) on Monday asked political parties to stop taking credit for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the absence of one in the city.
The members of the manch also alleged that the civic body and elected representatives have deceived the citizens in the name of BRTS and wasted funds provided by the Centre.
"We would like to bring to everybody's notice that there is no BRTS in Pune since there is no dedicated lane.The so-called 16-km BRTS is in parts ranging about 6-7km at a stretch. A basic requirement of a BRTS is that the dedicated length should be double the ?passenger lead' or average distance travelled by a bus commuter, which is about 8.6km in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)," Maj Gen (retd) S C N Jatar of NCM said in a press release on Monday.
The manch said Pune is the only city in the world where the concept of 'mixed' BRTS has been entertained. 'Mixed' in PMC's parlance means that all types of vehicles are allowed to ply on ?mixed' stretches. "AT present, all types of vehicles ply on all roads not only in Pune but also in the whole country. Then why spend thousands of crores of rupees to make ?mixed' BRTS?" the manch asked the civic administration.
"The first seeds of failure were planted when the civic body refused to plan the BRTS scientifically. There was neither a pre-feasibility or feasibility study nor a proper Detailed Project Report. Successive municipal commissioners have only protected the first commissioner who recklessly went ahead to construct BRTS without any planning as if Centre's funds belonged to him alone," stated the press release.
The manch demanded that the civic body give the task of designing and planning a portion of pilot BRTS to IIT Delhi.
"There was no planning. Even then, PMC entrusted the preparation of Phase I and CYG BRTS reports to IIT Delhi. PMC submitted these reports for obtaining financial approvals and not for technical implementation of the BRTS," the members of the manch alleged.