The Pune Municipal Corporation’s Environmental Status Report for 2003-04 agrees that the city has a problem with traffic congestion and pollution that was affecting the health of citizens. The report clearly states that the number of patients suffering from asthma, cough and heart ailment was increasing every year due to rising pollution.

The report has also taken cognisance of the accidents on the city’s roads

• three persons die every day in mishaps while 12 serious accidents take place every ten days.
• In the first six months of this year, a total of 187 people have died in the 1,000 mishaps on the city’s roads.
• Another 884 people have been injured in accidents. The only positive aspect was the number of fatal accidents had reduced in the past six years.

The report also talks of strengthening the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) as it is the only solution to improve the city’s traffic scene. It observes that the PMT’s fleet of 849 buses was woefully short to provide an effective transport system to the citizens but in the past two years, the PMT has not added a single bus to its fleet. Moreover, 143 buses that were over 15 years old needed to be scrapped.