TMC will take a year to roll out 50 more buses for women Man attacked with weapons, robbed by three in Bhiwandi
The twin cities of Kalyan and Dombivli must have slated to start dedicated civic buses for women within the next two months, however, its neighbouring Thane Municipal Corporation will require over a year to start this service.
The TMC has proposed to start 50 dedicated buses for women commuters by next year.
The state in its budget had declared 300 dedicated buses for women commuters called Tejaswini buses. The 300 buses were for six municipal corporations including KalyanDombivli, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai and Thane. The state had made a provision for Rs50 crore for the same.
KDMT plans to start the service in two months. The TMT said it will take around a month for the service to be operational.
A TMT official, requesting anonymity, said, “We have made a proposal for buying 50 buses under this scheme. The state had asked us to send a proposal for the same, which is now ready. The corporation will require Rs7 crore to buy the buses, the expenditure on the salary of the driver and conductor will be Rs29.70 lakh, Rs5.80 lakh for diesel and so on. We will need around Rs115 crore to implement this project.”
The transport also proposes to construct toilets for women near 14 bus stops.
The proposal for starting women’s buses was put before the transport committee of the TMC which was approved. The proposal will now be tabled before the general body to be held on Saturday for approval.
“Once approved by the general body, it will be sent to the Centre for approval. The Centre will approve and allot the funds. We will then have to invite tenders, buy the buses and study the routes where these buses can be operated. The whole process will take anywhere over a year,” said the official.
The services will start at the profitable and also the deserted routes, which pose a safety threat for women commuters at night or during odd hours.
A 40-year-old man from Bhiwandi was attacked by three unknown people and looted of Rs 7 lakh cash on Wednesday.
The victim had planned to deposit the money in the bank that evening, but got held up with work. Fearing a robbery, he decided to carry the money home and was attacked on his way.
The police are yet to identify the three accused, and are going through their network to know more about the case.
The victim, Satynarayan Pilamaram, had been running a money transfer shop in Bhiwandi since the last 20 years.
On Wednesday night at around 10.30pm, when Pilamaram was going home after locking up his shop, three unknown people holding sharp weapons surrounded him near Balaji Gym, at Padmanagar in Bhiwandi.
When he asked the trio to move, the gang abused and beat him up, and one of them snatched the bag from his hand.
A relative of the victim, Manohar Konka, 32, said, “My uncle was heading home when the incident took place and his house is hardly 500 metres from the shop. After injuring my uncle and taking the cash bag from him, all three accused fled from the spot on their bike which was parked nearby. Not a single person intervened or is even trying to give statement to the police”.
“We were waiting for my uncle to come home when we got a call from police informing us about the incident and rushed to the spot. He was attacked more than seven to eight times and got 24 stiches, and has cut marks on his back, hands and legs,” added Konka.
Konka further said that when they asked Pilamaram about the accused, he told them that he had noticed them following him since the past couple of days.
“We have got CCTV footages of the spot which have been handed over to the police for investigation,” he said.
Dinesh Katke, senior police inspector from Bhiwandi city police station, said, “We have got the history sheeters’ details and are investigating the case. The unknown trio has been charged under section 397 (Robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.”
