Unfinished footpath work adds to traffic congestion near Pune RTO office
The unfinished work of footpath laid between RTO and Pune railway station by Maha-Metro has not yet alleviated the traffic problem, even after instructions from PMC and the traffic department
The footpath between the regional transport office (RTO) and Pune railway station laid by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) has not yet alleviated the traffic problem, even after instructions from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the traffic department.
Metro officials said the work is underway and the footpath will be fully resized in the next few days.
In April, Pune traffic police and PMC had written to Maha-Metro to resize the footpath developed by the Metro Rail agency and had built the pedestrian stretch with more than the standard size.
PMC too had highlighted the issue with Maha-Metro saying it is causing congestion at RTO square as the carriage width of the road had reduced.
They pointed out areas such as Bund Garden junction at Shahid Hemant Karkare Chowk, near the central excise and custom office at Ruby Hall Clinic Metro station and near the regional transport office along the Pune railway locomotive workshop at Managalwar Peth Metro station often witnessing traffic jams.
While Maha-Metro resized the footpath near Bund Garden and Ruby Hall Clinic, the work at Mangalwar Peth Metro station near regional transport office has not been completed yet leading to traffic chaos on the road near the RTO junction.
VG Kulkarni, chief superintendent of road department, PMC, said, “The road width is 18 metres and it has been developed as reserved in the development plan (DP). Now there is no space for road widening on the SSPMS College side beside the railway locomotive workshop. To ease traffic congestion, further resizing the footpath is the only solution. There is a bottleneck at the RTO junction.”
Sharad Dharav, executive engineer of the road department, PMC, said, “Maha-Metro has not resized the footpath yet. On Wednesday, we visited the spot and again informed Metro officials to resize the footpath from the existing four metres to two metres. This is creating traffic congestion in the area.”
Hemant Sonawane, public relations officer, Maha-Metro, said, “We have started work and it will be complete within two-three days.”
Rupesh Shelke, one of the commuters, said, “There is a huge traffic jam at the point near the SSPMS area. Commuters have to wait for 10 to 15 minutes to cross the signal as the road becomes narrow due to Metro work. Whenever I travel on this road, I face traffic snarls.”
As per the municipal corporation road department officials, the footpath should be between 1.5-1.8 metres on both sides of the road as per standard.
The old footpath was constructed by PMC as per standard. However, Pune Metro has redesigned a footpath without consulting PMC.
Maha-Metro has kept the bulb head (extra portion kept on the footpath) near Ruby Hall Clinic and regional transport office metro station. It has squeezed the road width.
At present, Maha-Metro has developed a footpath of minimum 3.5 metres with one side having an oversized footpath and metro pillar in the middle of the road.
It has laid the footpath on the left side of Bund Garden and Ruby Hall Clinic hospital area (while travelling towards Pune railway station) and both sides of the roads in SSPMS College near the regional transport office.
