PMC bus service delayed further

The Union government’s decision to discontinue JNNURM scheme and start Amrut Yojana has hit the Panvel Municipal Council’s plans hard with its plans for its own bus service running into trouble.

The PMC was all set to get Rs54 crore under JNNURM to start its own bus service. However, under Amrut Yojana it will get only Rs27 crore.

This will delay the plans for an early start of the bus service.

In 2008, the then PMC president Prashant Thakur, who is now Panvel MLA, had forwarded to the central government a resolution he had got approved by PMC, for the council to have its own bus service. In 2014, Rs54 crore had been sanctioned by the central government under JNNURM.

This had raised hopes of the residents. A PMC official said, “The Rs54 crore were to be spent on construction of bus depot and purchase of mini, midi and standard buses for the service. The PMC too was to contribute towards the cost.”

He added, “PMC had even appointed Delhi-based UMTC as a consultant for it but the government at the Centre changed.”

According to the official, “The PMC was to get the Rs54 crore in March 2015. The central government announced that it was replacing JNNURM with Amrut Yojana, giving a jolt to the PMC.”

He added, “It is learnt that only Rs27 crore will be given instead of Rs54 crore. The PMC now faces a herculean task of getting the rest of the fund to ensure the project sees the light of day.”

The Nerul police have arrested two people for allegedly robbing a 36-year-old man of cash, mobile phone and jewellery collectively worth Rs1.08 lakh on Thursday.

According to the police, Sushilkumar Sharma, a native of Himachal Pradesh, had come to the city to look for a job.

The suspects accosted him at Shirvane and snatched his cash and other valuables.

“Sharma said one of the robbers was physically challenged. We started our investigation and zeroed on the suspects within a few hours,” said Vikram Tharkar, police subinspector from Nerul police station.

The arrested men have been identified as Gajanand Wankhade, 20, and Gajanand Kale, 21, both residents of Nerul. They have been booked under sections 394 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

“We have recovered the stolen goods from them,” Tharkar said.