Siddharth Shirole, MLA from Pune's Shivajinagar constituency, raised an issue over the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) stand in the ongoing assembly session on Tuesday.
Shirole demanded that the MSRTC stand be shifted from Wakdewadi to its previous location in Shivajinagar, as the Pune Metro had promised to build an integrated MSRTC stand in Shivajinagar in accordance with the MSRTC-Pune Metro agreement. He further criticized the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for doing no work on this demand.
It may be noted that the MSRTC stand was shifted to Wakdewadi from Shivajinagar to facilitate ongoing Pune Metro work as the MSRTC area was supposed to be used by Pune Metro during ongoing work since a Metro station has also been built near the same place.
However, the Pune Metro has already completed the work but the shifting of the MSRTC stand to its previous location was delayed following a dispute between the two on building the integrated MSRTC stand at Shivajinagar. The Pune Metro officials and MSRTC officials held multiple meetings in the past but no conclusive solution was found.
Siddharth Shirole during an ongoing session of the state assembly blamed the MVA government for not taking the matter further. "The ST stand was shifted to Wakdewadi on old Pune-Mumbai Highway for three years in 2019 due to ongoing Pune Metro works. The then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had prepared a beautiful Integrated Development Plan for Shivajinagar ST stand. However, all the works were stopped during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and no further progress happened regarding the Shivajinagar ST stand during that period."
According to Shirole, the Pune Metro was expected to build the ST stand at Shivajinagar under the agreement between the Pune Metro and MSRTC.