DNA: Mumbai: Thursday, February 25, 2016.
While talks
of Metro and water transport for Thanekars are on, the existing mode of
transport, the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) buses lie in a state of apathy.
To address
this problem, the Bombay High Court directed the TMC chief, Sanjeev Jaiswal, to
look into the issue of its 50% of non-functional its buses.
The division
bench of justice Abhay Oka and CV Bhadang said 50% of idle buses is a big
figure and this is not acceptable and cannot be ignored. "Hence, he
directed TMC commissioner to look into the issue and place an
explanation," he said. The matter will come up for hearing after three
weeks or Mid-April.
Based on
Right to Information (RTI), there are 274 TMT buses at Wagle bus depot, of
which only 143 are in working condition and of the 179 buses at Kalwa depot,
only 46 are working. "This figure is for 2003 to 2014 that nearly 50% of
the bus fleet is lying in garages for want of maintenance," said advocate
Kishore Patil, counsel of Vikrant Tawade.
With 50% of
TMT buses off the road, Thanekars do not have access to good transport, which
is their right, hence on Wednesday, Tawade filed a public interest litigation
(PIL), demanding better transport facilities for Thanekars.
"TMC had
obtained funds from the central and state government under Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and purchased 200 buses from that
money," said he. "So, we requested the court to direct TMC to comply
to all the terms and conditions it has given under its detailed project report
to JNNURM to seek loans. Also that TMC should conduct an inquiry regarding the
same," he said.
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