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PUNE: The railways, roads and traffic management committee of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has demanded plying of mini Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) buses via University chowk towards Baner, Pashan and Aundh.

This is after the traffic police and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided to ban heavy vehicles, including PMT buses, on the chowk to facilitate construction of a flyover.

Road safety crusader and chairman of the committee, Chandmal Parmar, told TOI that the ban on heavy vehicles inconvenienced commuters going towards Baner and Pashan.

"We've demanded that instead of re-routing PMT buses via Karve road-Chandni chowk, four-wheelers should be re-routed via that route. PMT mini buses, as well as two-wheelers, should be allowed via S.B. road and University chowk," Parmar said.

Member of the committee and president of the Nagrik Chetana Manch, S.C.N. Jatar, said that other four-wheelers can afford to take a longer route, but not PMT buses, as it would cause inconvenience to commuters.

"Over 40,000 commuters travel towards Baner and adjoining areas everyday. They are all being inconvenienced due to the ban. Commuting by a rickshaw is not affordable and the longer routes are not feasible," Jatar said.

Making a similar demand, PMT panel chairman Bhimrao Patole said that commuters were facing a harrowing time due to the ban on PMT buses. "Commuters have to pay higher fare due to the longwinding route. The traffic police and the PMC should plan something to increase the width of the road to enable PMT buses to ply. Let them ban other heavy vehicles. Why PMT? It is also leading to losses to the PMT. Around 600 trips to these areas have either been cancelled or re-routed," Patole said.

Similar demands made earlier by traffic experts, including Sujit Patwardhan, were not accepted by the traffic police.

Meanwhile, on the second day of the traffic diversions, Pashan road, Abhimanshri society and ITI road, up to Bremen chowk, were free of traffic snarls.

Source: Times of India