As PMRDA razes 30 more structures, hopes rise for smoother commute in Hinjewadi

Both Shinde and Ajit Pawar visited Hinjewadi and tried to pacify agitated citizens and activists through the promise of strong steps to ease life for them in the IT hub

As PMRDA razes 30 more structures, hopes rise for smoother commute in Hinjewadi (Express Photo)

AS 30 more “illegal structures” in Maan were demolished by PMRDA on Tuesday, the total structures razed in last 15 days has gone up to 200. In a related development, the Single Point Authority of Pune Divisional Commissioner on Tuesday apprised IT professionals and activists from Hinjewadi of steps taken so far to ease traffic woes and the condition of roads in the IT hub.

The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) moved into action after IT professionals, citizens and activists raised strong protest against daily traffic snarls, flooding of roads during rains and the absence an adequate number of roads in the IT hub. Their uproar, including a petition filed by a citizen in the Bombay High Court, rattled the state government. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde had to intervene in the matter. Both Shinde and Ajit Pawar visited Hinjewadi and tried to pacify agitated citizens and activists through the promise of strong steps to ease life for them in the IT hub. The CM held a meeting with IT professionals in Mumbai and announced setting up a Single Point Authority in Divisional Commissioner to coordinate the activities of all civic, traffic and other government departments.

As a result, PMRDA was forced to initiate quick action to widen roads and ease the flow of traffic in the area. In the last 15 days, it has claimed to have demolished nearly 200 illegal structures. However, PMRDA sources said so far they have not gone full hog against structures constructed on nullahs and streams. “Currently, a survey is underway to find out the exact number of illegal structures on nullahs and streams. After that we will initiate the action,” a PMRDA spokesperson said.

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Meanwhile, Pune Divisional Commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar on Tuesday held a meeting with various officials and representatives of the Wakad, Pimpri-Chinchwad Residents Development and Welfare Association.

Activist Sachin Londhe, the brain behind the UNCLOG HINJAWADI IT Park movement, said, “Today’s meeting with the Pune Divisional Commissioner was good. Various issues affecting Hinjewadi were discussed and the government agencies gave an update of things done so far.”

Londhe said he suggested a spot for multi-modal hub besides a bus depot for long distance buses in Baner-Balewadi area. “The PMRDA chief Yogesh Mhase on his part said they were in the process of acquiring land for six new roads. If this is done, it will have a big impact on easing traffic in the IT hub. Currently, there is only one major road through which traffic enters and exits Hinjewadi and which witnesses heavy traffic through the day. The condition worsens in the evening time,” he said.

Londhe said he also suggested appointments of traffic wardens through the day and even during evening hours. “We need more traffic wards as the number of traffic police personnel are highly inadequate. The PMRDA chief promised that they will recruit wards and foot their salaries as well. Other issues like portable signals, dividers and speed breakers were also discussed at the meeting. The authorities were positive about resolving the issues were raised by us. We are hoping that life of IT professionals and other citizens will ease considerably in the coming days.

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Meanwhile, PMRDA officials said the action against illegal constructions will continue till all of them are taken down. “Our drive is a strong one this time. We will not spare any illegal structures. We are determined to make Hinjewadi free of traffic jams and snarls. There will also no flooding of roads in future,” said PMRDA chief Yogesh Mhase.

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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