Bharat Taxi has been launched in Pune as a cooperative, commission-free service, while the Union Cooperation Ministry has opened a western regional office in the city to support cooperative institutions across the region. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah also announced that the defunct National Heavy Engineering Cooperative Limited in Talegaon would be revived with financial assistance of Rs 1,500 crore.
The three initiatives were announced at an event held in Pune on Sunday. The foundation stone for the revival project at Talegaon Dabhade was laid, the western regional office of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies was inaugurated virtually, and the Bharat Taxi service for Pune was formally launched.
Shah said the western regional office would provide guidance and assistance to cooperative institutions in the western part of the country. The office is intended to strengthen the institutional support available to cooperatives and help carry forward Maharashtra’s cooperative legacy across India, according to the report by Loksatta – Pune.
The Bharat Taxi service is based on a cooperative model and does not charge commissions, Shah said. Under the model described at the event, taxi drivers would have the opportunity to become owners of the service rather than remain only drivers. The announcement places the service within a wider effort to use cooperative structures in urban transport, although details about its fleet size, operating areas, fares, app platform, launch schedule and regulatory arrangements were not provided in the source report.
For Pune’s transport users, the service adds another taxi option in a city where daily mobility depends on a mix of private vehicles, public transport, autorickshaws, app-based taxis and other shared services. The immediate public impact will depend on how the cooperative service is implemented, including the number of participating drivers, its availability across different parts of the city and the process through which passengers can access it. No operational figures were disclosed at the launch.
The proposed revival of National Heavy Engineering Cooperative Limited brings an industrial and employment dimension to the announcement. The multipurpose cooperative institution in Talegaon had stopped functioning, and Shah said it would be brought back into operation with financial support of Rs 1,500 crore. The event marked the beginning of the revival project, but the source report did not specify the funding structure, implementation agency, project timeline, employment target or the activities that the revived institution would undertake.
The western regional office will be part of the administrative framework supporting cooperative institutions in the region. The event was attended by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Ajit Pawar, Union Minister of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal Gurjar, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Madhuri Misal, Member of Parliament Shrirang Barne, MLA Sunil Shelke, former MLA Sanjay alias Bala Bhegde and Union Cooperation Secretary Ashishkumar Bhutani.
The next stages are the rollout of Bharat Taxi’s Pune operations, the functioning of the new regional office and implementation of the Talegaon cooperative revival project. Further details on timelines, finances and service operations were not announced in the supplied report.
