Metro to run from Nigdi to Katraj: DPR process under way

The DPR will cost about Rs 50-60 lakh, which the PCMC has agreed to pay

Pune Metro, Maharashtra Metro, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, PCMC, DPR, Pune News, Indian Express, Indian Express News

The DPR will cost about Rs 50-60 lakh, which the PCMC has agreed to pay (File)

The MAHA-Metro is planning to extend the Metro line from Pimpri to Nigdi, in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) jurisdiction, and Swargate to Katraj in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) jurisdiction. Process of preparing a Detailed Project Report in this regard has started, said officials. Brijesh Dixit, managing director of MAHA-Metro, said on Sunday that PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar sought a project report to extend the Metro line from Nigdi to Pimpri. “We have started the process for preparing the DPR,” he said. The DPR will cost about Rs 50-60 lakh, which the PCMC has agreed to pay.

Dixit added that the DPR will be ready in at least four months. “It will take time because it involves technical survey, traffic study, ridership, environmental impact, and will require clearing of trees… Once the DPR is ready, it will be submitted to the central government for approval,” he said. Similarly, he said, PMC Commissioner Kunal Kumar had sought preparation of the DPR on extending the Metro line from Swargate to Katraj. “We have started the DPR process for that too…,” he added.

Metro officials said they had planned to construct at least two stations on the Nigdi-Pimpri route, but now there would be more stations on the Swargate-Katraj route. “The route could have four to five stations,” officials said. Dixit said the decision to start Metro services on Nigdi-Katraj route has been taken following the demands of local residents. “We will call the new extensions Phase One A,” he said.

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Pimpri to Swargate Corridor was about 16 km. “Now, with the extension, 10 to 11 km would be added to the line,” he said. He added that the deadline for Metro was 2021. “But we hope to get the Pimpri to Dapodi stretch on track in one year or just in over a year’s time,” he said.

PCMC Standing Committee Chairperson Seema Savale said a meeting would soon be convened to discuss about the new corridor. Metro officials said the Metro is expected to help reduce traffic congestion on Pune roads. “Metro will take huge load off Pune’s roads,” said Dixit. On Saturday, Chinchwad MLA Laxman Jagtap and Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge had urged the state government to extend the Metro services on Moshi-Nashik Phata and Hinjewadi-Nashik Phata routes.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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