A recent RTI disclosure reveals that Pune’s public bus operator, PMPML, lost nearly ₹3,000 crore over four years, raising concerns over financial stability, management practices, and transparency in the city’s critical infrastructure.
An RTI disclosure has raised fresh questions over the financial health of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited, the city’s public bus operator, after indicating that it lost nearly ₹3,000 crore over a four-year period. The figures, reported in the Gujarati transparency blog Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, point to a widening strain on a transport system that millions of commuters depend on every day.
The disclosure is being treated as a warning sign about management practices, operational inefficiencies and the use of public money. According to the blog’s report, the losses were revealed through a Right to Information request, underscoring once again how citizens and activists have had to turn to transparency laws to obtain basic financial information from public bodies.
PMPML has long faced criticism over reliability, service quality and its ability to balance fares with operating costs. The latest figures add to concerns that chronic losses may be rooted not only in low revenue but also in deeper structural problems, including weak oversight and poor accountability. The organisation’s record now sits uneasily alongside the broader push for cleaner governance that Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel says drives its work on information rights and public scrutiny.
The disclosure is also likely to intensify pressure on local authorities to explain how the shortfall accumulated and what steps, if any, are being taken to improve performance. In a city where public transport is central to daily life, the scale of the reported losses is likely to fuel debate over whether the system is being run in the public interest or simply kept afloat by repeated subsidies and limited transparency.
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