Pune: Rickshaw Panchayat Objects To Functioning Of MahaMetro
Pune, 8th July 2021: The Rickshaw Panchayat, the biggest union of autorickshaw drivers, has raised several objections to the agreement started by MahaMetro with rickshaw associations to take passengers home from Pune metro stations.
While MahaMetro is a public body, the Rickshaw Panchayat has raised the question of how it can enter into agreements with certain organizations and allow rickshaws belonging to certain organizations to enter the metro stations. The Rickshaw Panchayat has also said that it will submit a letter to the Pune Municipal Commissioner and Regional Transport Officer (RTO) to take action on the matter.
MahaMetro is currently working on Vanaz-Ramwadi and Pimpri- Chinchwad-Swargate routes in the city. MahoMetro plans to start the first phase on these routes between the end of December this year and March next year. In the first phase, five stations each will be operational on both routes.
From there, MahaMetro will start a feeder service to take passengers home. For this, MahaMetro has recently signed an agreement with the Aam Aadmi Party’s rickshaw association. No agreement has been reached with Rickshaw Panchayat and Pune City Autorickshaw Federation yet. Also, rickshaws, PMPML, Ola, Uber etc. will be included in the Metro app. MahoMetro has started the process for that.
Nitin Pawar, General Secretary of Rickshaw Panchayat, while objecting to the working of MahaMetro, said, “Rickshaws are also committed to providing feeder service to the passengers. How the passenger fare will be decided by the Pune metro, how only certain rickshaw drivers will get access to the premises of the metro station, so it will be unfair on the majority of rickshaw drivers. Therefore, we are opposed to this method of MahaMetro. This order needs to change immediately. ”
Hemant Sonawane, General Manager, MahaMetro, said, “MahaMetro will enter into agreements with all rickshaw associations to include rickshaw services under the feeder service. Rickshaw fares will be decided by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA). Agreements are being made with rickshaw associations to make the metro schedule known to autorickshaw drivers and benefit passengers. The contracted rickshaws can be included in the Metro app. It will also increase their business. No one will be treated unfairly in this regard.”
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