Efficient mass transport mode a distant dream

The 2014-15 Union Budget has revived the dreams of having an affordable and efficient mass transport system, which is earnestly needed in the growing city.
There is talk among the polity and experts on the options available. After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, whose party is in power in the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), floated the idea of exploring the possibility of introducing a tram service, there has been a demand for metro rail transport.The city unit president of Shiv Sena, Ajay Boraste, is preparing to lead a delegation to the central government to canvass for introduction of metro railway in the city.
The Modi government has announced a slew of measures for urban development, including financial assistance from the Centre for starting metro rail transport in cities. But the eligibility criterion is that the population of the city has to be above 20 lakh. The hitch is that Nashik's population is around 16 lakh and the city does not fulfill the eligibility norms.
To that, the protagonists argue that the city's Development Plan (DP), albeit delayed, is being prepared for the 2011-2036 and planning for the metro rail project immediately would be wiser. The DP, incidentally, is being worked out, with a projected population figure of 34 lakh by 2036. The DP is expected to be finalised by the end of this calendar year. However, there has been no official move either from the NMC or the urban development department of the state government.
The NMC is the primary planning authority and custodian of local civic affairs, but it does not operate the city bus service. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) runs city buses on select routes and the number is grossly inadequate for the needs of the growing city.
In 2010, the city got 100 new buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It was one of the 28 cities with over one million population to be included in the JNNURM, apart from seven major cities with over seven million population and 30 select cities that were state capitals or important from religious/tourism point of view. The NMC had the opportunity of fulfilling one of its primary duties. However, the civic body expressed its inability of starting a bus service, and the buses were handed over to the MSRTC.
The city bus service is incurring losses and the MSRTC had asked the NMC last year to compensate it. But the city body is yet to respond. The MSRTC has a state-wide network that is the lifeline of rural Maharashtra. But among the urban bus services it operates, Nashik is the biggest city being served with 210 buses.
Eight months ago, an NGO that conducted a survey of the city had recommended introduction of Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS). The recommendations did not go down well with the city guardians, which triggered an uproar at the general body meeting of the NMC over the financial crunch faced by the civic body. There was political mudslinging with Shiv Sena members pointing out that when there was a proposal to take over the city bus service from the MSRTC in 2009, during the Shiv Sena-BJP regime in the NMC, the MNS had opposed it. The BRTS proposal was ultimately shot down, with Thackeray coming up with his own idea.
The issue of the NMC taking the reins of the city bus service has been pending ever since the erstwhile Nashik Municipal Council was upgraded into a corporation in 1982. For a decade, the NMC was placed under administrator's rule and the first elections were held in 1992. In 1992-93, the proposal of launching the Nashik Municipal Transport (NMT) with 70 new buses was mooted and a panel formed to work out the details after a visit to factories of prominent bus manufacturing companies. However, it did not work out. Subsequently, the proposal was discussed on several occasions over the years, but the NMC shied away from the responsibility.
The MSRTC's city bus service is skeletal and the frequency is inadequate, except on busy routes like Nashik Road railway station to Panchavati. Consequently, local citizens prefer to use their own vehicles, leading to growing number of bikes on the roads. The most affected people are those who have no vehicles and visitors or pilgrims from outside, who are fleeced by autorickshaw drivers not plying by meter.
The fresh round of enthusiasm is likely to be just rhetoric, with no change in the availability of public utilities.