Pune: The six-lane road from Yerawada to Shikrapur will now be developed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) instead of the Public Works Department (PWD) of the state government. Hence the funding for the project will be now provided by the central government. This road is crucial to ease the traffic woes on Nagar road faced by citizens and daily commuters.
The Yerawada to Kharadi stretch of this road comes under the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Since the Nagar road is a state highway, the state government had decided to develop this road on the basis of 'signal-free' stretch of old Pune-Mumbai highway passing through Pimpri-Chinchwad city. Hence the PWD had also prepared a plan regarding this.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had recently conducted a review meeting with PWD and PMC officials regarding this road project. Pawar had instructed the officials to propose flyovers and grade separators location on this road and submit the plan accordingly. However, the PWD officials estimated a cost of Rs 3000 crore for this project. Hence Pawar suggested that they should take financial help from the central government for this project. Pawar also discussed this matter with Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari too assured Pawar that they will offer financial assistance and asked the state government to send a proposal for the same. Hence now the proposal for this road project has been undertaken by the NHAI and soon it will be sent to the central government.
The Nagar road is one of the most congested road in Pune city. MLA Sunil Tingre said, "I had suggested that this road should be developed on the basis of signal-free stretch similar to that of the old Pune-Mumbai highway passing through Pimpri-Chinchwad city. Accordingly the road project will now be developed by the NHAI and the proposal for the same is underway."
