Pune: The Central government is not calling a meeting of the Public Investment Board (PIB) for the last couple of months in spite of Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claiming that the Pune Metro rail project will get the nod very soon. A nod of the Public Investment Board is needed before tabling the proposal before the Union cabinet.
The Pune Metro Rail project has completed almost all stages for getting an approval. From last one year, the proposal is lying idle with the Urban Development Department for the same.
The high-level administrative sources said that ideally, there is no reason for delaying the PIB meeting for getting the nod. All differences on the metro project have been cleared and it has been decided to execute the project as suggested by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
Sources said that there must be a political reason behind delaying the Public Investment Board meeting. As the proposal is getting delayed continuously, it is looking that the government will give its nod only before the civic polls.
Nagpur Metro got the permission almost a year before. The Pune Metro proposal also followed the same process but got stuck in the last two stages to get the required permissions.
Two months earlier, Gadkari had held a meeting with all party leaders and decided to go ahead with the plan. At that time, it was expected that the metro will get an immediate approval. Even when Gadkari visited the city last month, he had assured that the Centre will give its nod very soon. But it is not known when the PIB meeting will be held.
Municipal Commissioner Kunal Kumar and Additional Municipal Commissioner Omprakash Bakoria said that the PMC has completed all required formalities and is waiting for the nod of the PIB meeting.
