Two months after inauguration metro stn work still incomplete
Pune Metro yet to complete work on strategic Yerawada station, causing inconvenience to residents. Anticipated opening more than a month away.
More than two months after starting passenger services on the Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi stretch, the Pune Metro is yet to complete work on one of the strategic stations on this route, namely Yerawada. The authority anticipates that completion of work will take more than a month and is still unsure when the station will be opened to passengers.
On March 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi stretch. At the time, work on one entry-exit point of Yerawada metro station adjacent to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Kalas Dhanori ward office had been completed. However, the other entry-exit point of Yerawada station would have to be redone as locals alleged that the staircase was causing traffic congestion on Ahmednagar Road. Hence, Pune Metro stopped work at Yerawada station in November last year. Work resumed in February this year but is still incomplete.
Yerawada is one of the important stations on the 5.5 km stretch between Ruby Hall Clinic and Ramwadi. Residents are demanding that work on the station be completed as soon as possible. Currently, they have to walk to Bund Garden station which is half a kilometre from Yerawada station.
Hemant Sonawane, director of Pune Metro, said, “The work is underway. After completion of the station, we will request the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) to inspect the station. It will take more than a month to open Yerawada station.”
Yerawada, on the Pune-Ahmednagar national highway, witnesses a constant flow of high-volume traffic. Yerawada metro station is strategically located approximately 4.8 km from Pune Airport. It connects Vishrantwadi, Maharashtra Housing Board, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar and Phule Nagar.
Akash Shinde, a Yerawada resident, said, “The Metro has started operating from Ramwadi to Kothrud and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). We have a metro station nearby but it is not serving any purpose yet. It’s been over two months since its construction, but the station hasn’t opened for operations.”
