Citizens take DIY approach, smoothen traffic chaos near school in Pune

After a three-year struggle to draw the Pune Municipal Corporation’s attention to the traffic chaos and bad roads outside Vibgyor school near Dorabjee mall, NIBM road, refused to bear fruit, residents of the area including Mohammadwadi along with the parents of Vibgyor students decided to take matters into their own hands. Today, they have not only smoothened the traffic snarls but also painted the wall in front of the school using the money they raised via crowdfunding.

Earlier, residents would complain about the wall in front of the school being an eyesore. Both the parents of Vibgyor students and bus drivers would complain about daily traffic and parking issues while dropping and picking up the children. Concerns were raised about the safety of the students as well. There was no change in the situation despite repeated complaints to the municipal authorities. At that point, the residents along with the students’ parents decided to approach resident-social activists Colonel Deepak Kumar (retired) and Puneeta Ranjan to help them find a solution to their problems.

Samir Mehta, one of the parents, recalled, “Everybody had good intentions but no one was taking up the matter. Hence, we approached Colonel Deepak Kumar and Puneeta Ranjan to help us get the message across that together, as citizens, we can bring about a change. We decided to start the initiative to create some traffic sense and beautify the surroundings.”

Colonel Kumar (retired), who has worked on similar traffic improvement initiatives, spearheaded the group initiative along with the Kondhwa traffic police. “The school had written several times to the PMC but it seems the civic body has their hands full when it comes to the delivery of facilities for citizens. Despite the letters, nothing was seen moving on ground except chaos... so a few of us citizens took it up on their own in consultation with the traffic police. The do-it-yourself (DIY) approach worked… I conceptualised, planned and helped with the execution of the traffic solution which I presented to the traffic police, which then agreed to work with us,” Colonel Kumar (retired) said. His ‘shock and awe’ approach helped smoothen the traffic chaos with advance planning and timely execution, he said.

Rajendra Shelke, police inspector, Kondhwa traffic police branch, said, “This initiative was discussed about a month ago. We proposed certain changes in discipline in parking, road-marking etc. The PMC is supposed to spend on these road signs but they have not done anything. The residents then agreed to help the police with the road signs and road-marking. This will help avoid daily traffic congestion.”