Cultural capital inching towards being commercial hub

Pune, the cultural Capital of Maharashtra is fast metamorphosing into a commercial hub leveraging the property market due to increasing settlements. The city is poised to take the lead in terms of various indicators of development. However, will Pune command a significant lead over other cities like it? This would largly depend on what quality of life city managers are able to provide settlers today.Quality of life could be judged through several indicators; one such indicator is the life expectancy at birth (LEAB- the number of years a newborn will live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth remain the same throughout the child''s life).This would indicate the health conditions that prevail in a given area.
Although Pune''s figures of LEAB were not available, at the state level Maharasthra is better off. The state''s LEAB as given by Frost & Sullivan for 2001 was 66.8 for males and 69.8 for females.But since the national average was lower at 63.9 and 66.9, respectively it speaks volumes of the quality of life in the state. Tamil Nadu''s LEAB was lower than that of Maharasthra at 67 and 69.8, respectively.
On the environment front, Pune is better than Hyderabad if not Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Baroda and Coimbatore. According to National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) figures documented in the most recent National Environment Survey in 2000 the levels of air pollution in Pune are lower than that in Hyderabad.
A study of 12 Indian cities by the Central Institute of Road Transport found Delhi to clearly be the most congested city, followed by Kolkata (TERI, 1996). In addition to the great inconvenience caused by this, over-congestion tends to degrade the roads and causes decreases in vehicle fuel efficiency. Furthermore, such road congestion exacerbates the problem of certain types of air pollution, e.g. ozone pollution, which tend to be localized in nature. However, several cities, most notably Madras and Coimbatore, have relatively little congestion. A study on the working of Pune municipal transport by the Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport throws some light on the immediate past in the subject. This study conducted over a period of five years culminating in 1999 showed that PMT''s Quality of service had improved. Moreover, the recent introduction of sturdy new buses by the PMC has been a welcome move. Although the total cost per km in PMT was moderately high, when compared with other State transport undertakings (STUs) like Bangalore Metro,TC,Tamilnadu State TC (CNI-II), Delhi TC and Ahmedabad MTS. PMT stands at fourth position in the comparison.
But Pune''s lack, over the years, of a proper public transport system has forced a major chunk of its population to buy two-wheelers, leading to a boom of sorts for the industry and employment opportunities.The pocket of the buyer is also not strained given the large used two-wheeler market in the city.In fact the demand for used two-wheeler and four-wheeler has gone up in the last three years ever-since dynamism was witnessed in the automobile market.The relatively smaller distances one has to cover to move between two important points, as compared to Mumbai or any other city, assist this convenience.
By and large the quality of life in the city is improving with its growth.