With an eye on Maharashtra elections....Pune promised the moon.

Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde and state chief minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday vowed to help Pune overcome its two major problems — traffic congestion and power scarcity. While Shinde promised a separate power plant, the CM said the state would fund the metro rail project. Both the ministers were speaking during the conclusion of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee’s (MPCC) state wide campaign to reach out to party workers before the state assembly elections. “Maharashtra has been facing power problems for long, but we are slowly overcoming the power scarcity. Since I have taken over as Union power minister, I have been paying special attention to the state. If Pune provides land and water, I will get a 1,000-MW plant,” Shinde said. “The Union power ministry will have no problem in sanctioning a power plant for Pune if the basic infrastructure is provided. Two power plants are planned at Nagpur and Solapur, which will totally generate 2,320 MW of electricity. The Nagpur power plant will be completed under the 11th Five Year Plan while the Solapur plant in the 12th Five Year Plan,” Shinde said. The CM said, “ The state government will start the metro rail project worth Rs 8,000 crore in Mumbai. Along with that, the state wants to develop Pune city too. Pune has already received funds under JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission). The state coffers are open for the Pune metro project and we promise that there will be no scarcity of funds for it.” He said the state aims to change the face of Pune by carrying out overall development works. Chavan’s statement is significant as in his recent presentation in Pune, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) managing director E Sreedharan recommended that the DMRC model be incorporated in Pune as it has an edge over the public-private partnership and build-operate-transfer models. The DMRC submitted a final draft for the metro rail project to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently. In the DMRC model, an independent company is formed and with participatory planning, the company is fully responsible for the infrastructure and its development. The state and central governments share a big chunk of funding under this model.