Pune: Pune Mahanagar Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) has forwarded a proposal to the State government to dismantle flyovers on busy Ganeshkhind Road to facilitate PMRDA's Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar Metro line 3.
State Deputy Chief Minister and also Pune District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar had given instructions in April last to make a plan for PMRDA and Tata -Siemens Company that has been awarded the contract for construction of the PMRDA metro route. Pawar had assured metropolitan regional development authority to give all necessary permission to dismantle flyovers from state government’s different departments. Pawar then also had suggested that the flyovers be dismantled during the lockdown period to avoid traffic congestion.
PMRDA Commissioner Vikram Kumar said, “Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, in a recent meeting, had given instructions to dismantle the flyovers. We have sent a proposal to the State government. We also have stated in the proposal that dismantling of the bridges would not cause traffic issues during the lockdown period."
Metro Line 3
The proposed Metro line 3, a public private partnership (PPP) project will connect Hinjewadi, the sprawling IT hub on the fringes of neighbouring twin township of Pimpri-Chinchwad, to Shivajinagar.
Meanwhile, a group of former Public Works Department (PWD) engineers had taken objections against dismantling the Savitribai Phule Pune University Chowk flyover for the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar metro railway route. On the other hand, a few city-based NGOs had demanded demolition of flyovers and strengthening of public transport as a solution to traffic problems in the area.
The flyovers have been in the eye of criticism since they were constructed by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in 2006. The MSRDC then had suggested that 25 flyovers should be constructed to ease the traffic congestion in various parts of the city. PMC, however, had approved 20 of them, of which only six have been completed so far.