A public hearing was held on 18th June 2010 to understand public opinion about the proposed metro rail project for Pune. The public hearing was organized by the Mayor Mr. Mohansingh Rajpal and Chairman, Standing Committee Mr. Arvind Shinde of the Pune Municipal Corporation. Many individual citizens, civil society groups (including Parisar) and representatives of political parties presented their views at the hearing.
Parisar also made its submission expressing its views on the metro rail proposal currently being considered.
The main points in Parisar's submission during the public hearing were:
- The request to DMRC to prepare a DPR appears to have been made without a clear case being made for a metro rail in the first place.
- There is an absence of a comprehensive vision and planning for transport in the city, as each mode is being planned for independently.
- There seems to be no clear understanding of the financial burden sharing in case of cost escalation and/or under-achievement of the ridership goals of the proposal.
- Given the inability of PMC to manage and deliver on the other modes and transport systems of the city, Parisar is very sceptical if they can do so in the case of the metro.
A copy of Parisar's submission in English and Marathi is available for download.
There was also some controversy about the manner in which the public hearing was conducted. It is understood that PMC will compile all the inputs given by the citizens and submit them to the state government for it to decide.