MSRTC increases buses for devotees of Lord Shiva to Bhimashankar

Bhimashankar is an important destination for not just tourists but also for devotees of Lord Shiva and the rush increases during the Marathi month of Shravan when people flock there in large numbers.
Therefore, the Pune division of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has planned to operate additional buses operations from Pune to Bhimashankar.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 14 August 2015.

There will be more than 50 additional buses to Bhimashanakar located in Ambegaon taluka – it is a well-known place because of the temple of Lord Shiva. The trips will originate from Shivajinagar, Swargate, Narayangaon, Rajgurunagar, Daund, Junnar and Saswad.
In order to have a smooth flow of traffic, a separate bus stand has been set up near the temple.
As indicated by an official of MSRTC, due to the rush on Sundays and Mondays there will be more number of buses on these days. The depot managers have been told to make arrangement for operations of these additional buses and deploy additional manpower for maintenance and repairs of buses to avoid break downs. They would also have to ensure that every bus is checked at maintenance depot before it is allotted to the route.
The local police have also been requested to make arrangements to avoid traffic jams outside the bus stand and, preferably, have separate arrangement for parking of private vehicles near the temple.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Travel by MSRTC buses from Nashik to Pune

It takes roughly six hours to travel by bus from Nashik to Pune and, the prompt service of the MSRTC at half-hourly intervals have ensured that there are no hiccups. There are the semi-luxury buses as well as the air-conditioned Shivneri buses. During peak season or during festivals like Diwali or Dussera, passengers go in for online booking and those who do not do so get frustrated.
I had to wait in queue at Nashik for nearly two hours before I managed to get a seat to travel to Pune last week because it was ending of Diwali and the crowd comprised mostly of young men and women who were employed in IT firms in Pune and were going back to join duties.
The IT industry in Pune has resulted in hundreds of hotels and restaurants on the way – some of them like Daulat, Indraprastha, Kamats and Purohit are always busy and the cars in the parking lots bear testimony to the fact that for any place to prosper it is necessary to have good infrastructure that attracts investments.
As I waited at the Nashik bus stand I saw people ahead of me in queue getting their reservations for the 10am bus, then for the 10.30 am bus and by then, I was third in queue for the 11am bus. Unfortunately, when that bus arrived, there were only two vacant seats because all the remaining had been booked online!! I finally managed to get the 12am bus. Incidentally, the road for a major portion is through hills and the Ghat sections and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the huge mountains had been demolished in certain areas to eliminate curves and make the journey by road more pleasant. Moreover, elimination of frequent curves help to economize on fuel consumption and reduces fatigue for the drivers.
A proposal to have a railway route as an alternate means of communication failed to take off the ground.
As per the plans of the railways, the route between Nashik and Pune would be via Sinnar, Sangamner, Alephata, Manchar, Rajgurunagar, Chakan and Begadevadi on the Mumbai-Pune main line. This is the route that is flowed by the MSRTC buses. However, an alternate route has been proposed by an NGO named Rail Parishad – this is a route that will pass through Sinnar and then pass on through Akole, Kotul, Junnar, Ghodegaon before reaching Begadewadi. In the opinion of the NGO, this route would reduce the distance and also the cost of laying out railway lines.