Thane: UMC's bus service to start in Ulhasnagar before monsoon

Thane: The Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) bus service will start in Ulhasnagar before monsoon, indicated UMC commissioner Aziz Shaikh on Saturday, February 25. Shaikh also said that all the buses will be electric in order to curb the pollution in the city.

Earlier, the bus service started by UMC through a private contractor was stalled a few years back due to the ticket price hike dispute between the UMC and the private contractor, causing inconvenience to citizens.

Earlier, former UMC commissioner Dr. Raja Dayanidhi and deputy commissioner Ashok Naikwade started the process of restarting the civic body bus services. Seeing the pollution in the city, the municipal corporation decided to start electric buses. Meanwhile, with the appointment of Aziz Shaikh as the UMC commissioner, the process of transport bus service was really accelerated. The UMC floated a tender for the purchase of 10 AC minibuses and 10 buses of 52 seats with a fund of Rs 30 crore. 3 companies have responded to the tender and Pinnacle Company's tender has come with the lowest price. The UMC is planning to give the work to it.

Ashok Naikwade, deputy commissioner of the UMC, said, "The UMC chief has to establish a transport department before starting the bus service. For this, the government approval has to be taken to fill up 90 posts, including bus depot controller, manager, carrier and ticket inspector. A bus depot will be set up in 1 acre land at Shahad Gate. Last week, commissioner Aziz Shaikh inspected the bus depot site along with officials. Electrical charger points will have to be set up for charging buses. An electrical charger point has been made by the municipal corporation behind the municipal headquarters. Out of total 20 buses, 10 AC minibuses will be used for intra-city service and 10 buses of 52 seats will serve Kalyan, Dombivli, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai."

Naikwade added, "The UMC has got 1 acre of land in a housing project at Shahad Phatak and Municipal Transport bus depot will be constructed there.The commissioner has instructed that the site and the construction of the depot must start soon."