Heavy rain lashes Pune, waterlogging, traffic snarls in many areas

Heavy rains lashed the city on Saturday causing traffic congestions and waterlogging in different areas, including Mundhwa, Rasta peth, Sinhgad, Kharadi, Bibvewadi, Chinchwad, among others.

Deewakar Dutta, a resident of Rakshaknagar, Kharadi, said, “We had to ride our bikes very carefully, in fact, we very worried of getting stuck in potholes as it was impossible to gauge their depth with the pouring rain.”

Pankaj Deshmukh, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), traffic, said, “ Due to incessant rains there was waterlogging in some areas and the traffic was slow moving. But being a Saturday, they were less vehicles on the road as compared to other week days.”

Nitin Shigwan, a resident of Bibvewadi who was travelling to NIBM, said, “I had a tough time trying to ride my two-wheeler through the flooded roads in the area as the water was almost 1 to 1.5 feet deep and it was difficult to maintain balance.”

According to fire brigade department, tree falling incidents were reported in Chikali, Sangvi, Pradhikaran and Rahatani.

Prashant Ranpise, chief fire officer, fire brigade department, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, “There were four to five calls of tree falling incidents. The incidents were not serious as it was mostly branches of trees which had fallen. Due to this, there were traffic congestions, but once they were removed by our officials, the traffic was moving smoothly.” A tree fell across the road at Yamunanagar and traffic came at a halt till Talawade road.

Meanwhile, many areas in Pimpri-Chinchwad experienced waterlogging and traffic congestion due to rains. The Moraya Gosavi temple was partially submerged underwater, while the slums in Sanjay Gandhinagar were flooded.

In Alandi, the level of Indrayani river increased and vehicular traffic on the new bridge near the river was closed. Alandi ghat was also submerged underwater.

Also, residential societies in Moshi and Chikahli area witnessed waterlogging inside the society premises.

Two wall collapses in the city, none injured

Two wall collapse incidents were reported after heavy rains lashed the city on Saturday. No casualties were reported in the incidents.

The first incident took place at Budhwar peth behind Dagduseth Ganpati temple near Belbaug chowk at 3:24 pm.

Fire brigade officials said that the third floor of three-storey old wada (building) collapsed on Saturday. Ramchandra Shinde, junior engineer of the building permissions department PMC, said, “The wada belonged to Pravin Dhadge. Notices were issued twice to the owner to bring down the structure.”

The second incident took place at 3:51pm when the dilapidated wall of the two-storey Josh wada in Ghorpade Udyaan collapsed in Mahatma Phule peth. The first-floor wall collapsed after which the PMC and fire brigade personnel brought the entire structure down for safety purposes.

A portion of Z bridge collapses

A small part of the railing of Pune’s oldest and iconic Kakasaheb Gadgil Bridge popularly known as Z Bridge collapsed due incessant rains on Saturday. The important bridge connects Deccan with Narayan Peth. The fire brigade officials and traffic branch have appealed to the citizens to take alternate route rather than crossing the bridge as a safety measure.

PMC Fire Brigade Chief Prashant Ranpise said, “The ridge portion collapsed due to heavy rains and citizens must refrain from using the bridge as it is dangerous to commute during monsoon season.”

The traffic branch and PMC fire brigade has asked the PMC road and construction department to look into the issue and come up with a quick solution to the problem.