www.parisar.org

Draft Development Plan for Pune - Un-sustainable Transport

Citizens urged to oppose these changes.

The Pune Municipal Corporation has recently published the draft Development Plan for Pune (old city limits). The last plan was sanctioned in 1987 and was incredibly progressive for its time. It recognized the dangers of increased motorization, far before the explosive growth in vehicles started and before the ideas of sustainable transport were widely accepted. It had proposed a cycle track network, including a subway for cycles (the Wakdewadi underpass) and cycle-only bridges. It had also proposed a High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) as an access-controlled, public transport only ring road. Sadly none of these provisions were implemented.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) published a consultation paper on proposed fuel economy labelling and standards for the country, initially focusing on cars. The paper also invited feedback from the public, which was followed by a public consultation held in New Delhi. Parisar submitted its list of concerns and recommendations about the proposed standards. These include some procedural concerns (such as inadequate public consultations and time to respond), structural concerns (such as lack of disincentive to increasing vehicle weights) and substantial concerns (such as the current standards being too weak). Other groups attending the public consultation highlighted similar problems with the consultation paper.

Download Parisar's submission to BEE and presentation at the public consultation.