PMC to ready 90 junctions ahead of G20 Summit

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has identified as many as 90 junctions to be readied for the upcoming G20 Summit to be held in the city. Of the 90 junctions, 15 chowks are in Aundh, Baner, Balewadi, Sus Pashan and Chaturshringi. While the PMC has begun work at a brisk pace on areas that need immediate attention in terms of retrofitting, beautification and traffic management, residents are of the view that though they have been asking for islands for junctions for quite some time now, the PMC is doing this now only because of the forthcoming G20.

Dinkar Gojare, executive engineer, roads department, PMC, said, “The chowks identified by the PMC in my jurisdiction are Bhale Chowk, Ganraj Chowk at Baner, Mamta Chowk at Balewadi, Jupiter hospital Chowk, Balaji Chowk, Sai Chowk, Chaturshringi Chowk and Patrakar nagar Chowk. Some of these chowks have been classified into categories such as traffic management and retrofitting while others into the beautification category. Jupiter hospital is one such chowk that was in need of an island for we had received many complaints regarding haphazard traffic movement with incoming traffic from Vishal nagar, Balewadi and Aundh. This was on the cards for almost a year but finally with the G20 summit, we included it in the programme. Work on these chowks will be carried out through corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the part of developers and builders. The costs for each chowk vary from ₹20 lakh to ₹40 lakh.”

However, residents are of the view that the PMC is carrying out this work now only because many foreigners will be visiting the city for the G20 Summit. Ameya Jagtap, a resident of Balewadi, said, “The traffic situation near Jupiter hospital is very bad and it has seen its fair share of accidents taking place with vehicles zooming criss-cross towards Vishal nagar or Aundh. There is simply no traffic management there. Besides, there is a hospital and we often hear ambulances waiting to cross into the hospital due to traffic. It’s a good thing that the PMC is looking at creating a traffic island but the reason should not be the G20 Summit but the residents’ pleas and complaints”

Whereas police inspector Babasaheb Koli, Chaturshringi traffic division, said, “The traffic department was part of the discussion in selecting the chowks, and we are aware of the traffic situation in our area. This can be a good time to moderate and streamline the traffic in this area.”