Recently for some reason I was in Pune for a few days from 7 to 10 August. Earlier I was in Pune in 2001 for a few hours behind closed doors to attest mark sheets of late admissions at Khotrud, the Centre for distance education. I could not go out to see places.
This time I had a nice opportunity to see and move around in Pune for three days. I visited Phoenix Mall, MG Road and the Holkar landmarks. Having been in Margao for the last three decades I was very much impressed with Pune, one of the best cities of Maharashtra. Pune is neat, clean and the climate is pleasant. From the eleventh storey apartment of my son I could get a panoramic view of Yerwada especially during the nights. Yerwada is notorious for jail birds and gallows.
Yerwada is a bustling suburb of Pune City. There are no traffic bottle necks. Vehicular traffic obey traffic signals. We travelled mostly by auto rickshaws. When the driver starts he sets the meter. The meter reads minimum fare of Rs 18. Then you proceed to your destination, get down and pay the fare shown by the meter. Thus autorickshaw is the most preferred mode of transport if two or three persons want to travel. Why can’t we have meters for auto rickshaws here in Goa? Here we have to pay whatever the driver quotes. The meter system for autos and taxis works very well in Pune.
The streets, lanes and by lanes of Yerwada are very neat and clean. The residents have civic sense. I did not see any garbage anywhere in Yerwada. Not even a piece of paper. The waste generated in every apartment is collected every morning. There are no stray dogs. At least I haven’t seen one during my stay. I am told that electricity never goes off. My son’s TV was on for the whole day and night. There is uninterrupted supply of water for the residents only disconnected for sometime during the day by certain housing societies internally to control wastage. I didn’t feel like coming back to Goa. We left Pune at 6.45 pm by Pune Ernakulam super-fast and reached Margao at 7.15 a.m. Only after crossing Castle Rock I could see garbage thrown everywhere from the train window. Why can’t we be like Puneites? Are Panjim, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa fit to be smart cities? Pune is.
