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This is an archive article published on March 18, 2022

Following clamour, Pune Metro to rename Bhosari and Budhwar Peth stations

The name of Bhosari station has caused much confusion as it is situated at least 5 km away from Bhosari, while citizens have objected to the name of Budhwar Peth as it houses the red-light area.

Pune metro, pune metro rename, pune news, Bhosari metro rename, pune local news, pune metro news, pune city news, indian express newsMahaMetro officials, however, said the names of Bhosari and Budhwar Peth stations were given when the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared.

After coming under fire over the naming of a station, MahaMetro Rail Corporation Ltd, which is implementing the Pune Metro project, has decided to change the names of at least two stations and will seek the state government’s permission for the same.

The stations that will be renamed include the Bhosari station and the Budhwar Peth station, both located in Corridor One. “We have been receiving complaints regarding the naming of at least two stations… We have initiated the process to change their names,” said Hemant Sonawane, spokesperson for MahaMetro. “We will soon send a request to the competent authority, which is the state government, for changing the name of the two stations,” he said.

The name of Bhosari station has caused much confusion among commuters. The station is situated at least 5 km away from Bhosari. “The station is located at Nashik Phata which is a famous place in Pimpri-Chinchwad. It is located at the intersection of the Pune-Mumbai and the Pune-Nashik highways and hence it has been named Nashik Phata, which is a gateway to Nashik,” said Jayant Kariya, coordinator of Kasarwadi Citizens Forum.

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Kariya said Nashik Phata was famous as a transport hub. “Nearly 25 years ago, the transport hub was shifted from Nashik Phata to Nigdi. This was after The Indian Express highlighted how the transport hub triggered traffic jams on the Pune-Mumbai highway and led to accidents. After the campaign by The Indian Express, the then municipal commissioner Pravin Pardeshi shifted the transport hub, lock, stock and barrel, to Nigdi,” Kariya said.

Another coordinator, Rajendra Verma, said MahaMetro officials probably believe that Nashik Phata is not a popular place. “Not just in Pimpri-Chinchwad, even people from Pune city and district areas will always cite Nashik Phata while giving directions to their acquaintances for reaching the Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari MIDC area. Therefore, Nashik Phata is popular all over Pune and Metro officials should not try to undermine it,” he said.

MahaMetro officials, however, said the names of Bhosari and Budhwar Peth stations were given when the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared. “Officials who prepare the DPR take into consideration the biggest popular suburb nearby. Therefore, in the case of Bhosari, it must have happened as Bhosari is famous as one of the biggest industrial areas in Maharashtra,” Sonawane said.

Similarly, Metro officials said the name of Budhwar Peth station will also be changed. “Some citizens have objected to the name as this peth houses the red-light area… People want it changed to Kasba Peth. Both the renaming proposals are under consideration,” a Metro official said.

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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