Underground Pune Metro a more viable alternative, say experts

February 07, 2017 12:55 am | Updated 12:55 am IST

Pune: Railway and town planning experts have raised concerns about the Pune Metro Rail project, recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During an ‘Open Forum Discussion’ on the project organised at the city’s Institution of Engineers, a group of noted experts touched upon a range of topics from the escalating project cost to the effect of increased floor space index (FSI) on civic utilities and facilities in a congested city like Pune.

Dr. K. K. Gokhale, former managing director of Konkan Railway, said that given the lack of vehicle parking facilities near the proposed metro stations, there was no cogent explanation for selecting the Vanaz-Ramwadi route. The 15-km line is expected to be the first to be built in the project.

“In the end, the project will benefit only a small percentage of the population. However, the cost will be recovered through various additional taxes, which will be paid by all citizens. The overall ground reality in Pune does not warrant a metro project,” Dr. Gokahale said.

Others said an underground metro railway, as opposed to an elevated one, would have been preferable in a city with peculiar geographical and topographical conditions.

While acknowledging the tremendous benefit of a metro system, noted rail expert Dilip Bhat, said the Pune project ought to be constructed with minimum inconvenience to the citizens, who are already under tremendous pressure owing to the city’s nightmarish traffic. “An underground metro rail system with light capacity trains is more than adequate to cater to the projected traffic demand of 2031 and well beyond that,” Mr. Bhat said.

He remarked that such an arrangement would also put to rest the controversy over the environmental impact of the Vanaz-Ramwadi corridor.

Early last month, the Western Zone bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), acting on a May 2015 Environmental Interest Litigation (EIL), had issued an interim stay on a 1.7-km stretch of the corridor, which passes through the left bank of the Mula-Mutha rivers. The EIL had contended that the project threatened the riverbank ecosystem along the route.

However, the Supreme Court later stayed the NGT’s order halting work on the project.

Town planning expert Anagha Paranjape-Purohit argued that a golden mean had to be found between the objections raised by environmental activists and the pressing need for a solution to the city’s traffic problems, adding that the convenience and common good of citizens ought to override the concerns over the project’s cost.

In this vein, a proactive coordination between authorities and citizens was vital to make the metro project workable, said Vivek Gadgil, former MD of the L & T Metro Rail in Hyderabad. “The Metro is an integral part of the infrastructure of any modern city and hence needs to be planned with a long-term projection, perhaps for next 30 to 35 years. So, any difficulties encountered as the project progresses will have to be overcome on the foundation of a solid social, technical and economic basis,” Mr. Gadgil said.

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