The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) will resume its bus service in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) areas from August 22. However, senior citizens and children below 10 years would not be allowed to board the buses.
The decision was taken after Deputy Chief Minister and the Guardian Minister of Pune district, Ajit Pawar, gave a go-ahead to the transport body, reported TOI.
“We will start the services in both the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) areas. An in-principle approval for the same has come from the commissioners of the both the corporations. A final meeting with them is scheduled this week and we hope to start the services from next week. While we are targeting to start the services from August 22, there might be a delay of a few days,” a senior PMPML official said.
Around 450 buses, 25% of PMPML's capacity will be used for now. The transport body has 1,800 buses of which only 200 are being used for those in essential services. Reportedly, PMPML has suffered a loss of over Rs 100 crore during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Pune district reported 1,829 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its count to 1,27,026. The death toll reached 3,104 with 82 more patients succumbing to the infection during the same period.
Also, 1,049 patients were discharged from hospitals. "Of the 1,829 cases, 835 were reported from Pune Municipal Corporation limits (the city), where the count went up to 74,933. With 681 cases, Pimpri-Chinchwad's rally rose to 36,078," a health official said.
The number of positive cases in rural and Pune Cantonment Board areas increased to 16,015, the official added.
