Pune smart city project: MOUD minister inspects Aundh road progress

Durga Shanker Mishra, additional secretary, ministry of urban development with the Pune municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar, city engineer Prashant Waghmare, Aundh corporator Madhukar Musale and others, visited the pilot smart road project in Aundh on Saturday. The road between Bremen chowk to Parihar chowk has been closed to vehicular traffic for the past three months. This stretch is being renovated as a pilot road under the smart city project which looks at the Baner, Balewadi and Aundh corridor. 

The road is 95% ready for inspection and the deadline is July 7. Mishra and Kunal Kumar walked on the road with the urban planner and architect Prassana Desai, who explained the concept and details of the road design. 

Mishra expressed his wish to speak to the shopkeepers and residents of the area. Harsh Kumar Bang, Oshons shop owner, who was not satisfied with the explanation offered by the architect and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials, said, “The design is very nice but why was this road made? This road already had everything in place, why disrupt things and also spoil our business? Sanghavi nagar was already a well settled area, and this is hardly ideal for a walking plaza as it is only 1.5-km long. The officials should have looked at bigger wider roads instead of this stretch.” 

“We feel that shops will get better footfall once this road is operational and this road will be at par with any road abroad. It is been done for the benefit of the residents and commercial businesses alike. This road will speak of world class facilities and will be hailed as one of the roads to be replicated in the country,” said Mishra. 

He also requested the shop owners to keep the road in front of their shops clean, which will reflect better on the society. We want to give the city one of the best roads, where pedestrians come first, he added. 

According to Ravi Oswal, president of the shop keepers association of Aundh, “The parking space allotted is very limited and according to the PMC officials, they are proposing a parking space in the common area of Sanghavi nagar but that remains to be seen, when the road will be opened to the public.” 

Pune municipal commissioner said, “This is the template for future roads in the city. This is to cater for all sections of the society and gives special importance to pedestrians.”