Nagpur: Dr. Brijesh Dixit, formerly M.D. of Nagpur Metro, now at the helm of Maharashtra Metro that will oversee Pune Metro work also, talks to Nagpur Today from one of the metro sites.
He explains how technologically advanced the project is, adopting from the best in the world to how the metro will ‘change quality of life’ for any city it comes to.
“Nagpur public transport is available to only 10% of its citizens now. The rest have to use their own vehicles to commute to work; go on an outing with their family, or any social function.
Children living in far out reaches of the city have to take recourse to unsafe modes f travel like auto rikshas, cycle rikshas or costly private buses to go to school or college. There are some families – like those living in Chinch Bhuvan – who have to spend 50-60% of their monthly incomes in commuting. Not to mention inordinate amount of time without any real comfort. The Nagpur metro will change all that.”
He divulges the challenges that they faced in the first year of operation, the main one being how to tackle the route over Ram Jhula.
“It has very dense traffic which could not be compromised further; then there is the crucial Indira Gandhi (Mayo) Hospital and college on one side and a Heritage Ram temple on the other side of the road. Both could not be disturbed.
We succeeded in overcoming this hurdle with an innovative idea. Our work at this spot is progressing speedily and will complete well before other civil work going on there.
Similarly, our route over the Central Jail premises was planned taking security concerns into consideration.”
Dr. Dixit talks about the ‘green metro’ plans of generating solar power and how the issue is being resolved with MSEDCL.
He has just obtained a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Mumbai. How did he achieve that with his busy schedule?
What next? Will Maharashtra metro under his captaincy also take up projects in Nasik and Aurangabad also?
Listen in to know all the answers…
Live with Brijesh Dixit – on a project the whole state is looking forward to!
