Journalism of Courage
Building Pune | PMC to use police force to break deadlock on decade-old Katraj-Kondhwa road project
The Pune Municipal Corporation has acquired 100 of 109 properties needed for the Katraj-Kondhwa road widening project and plans to clear the remaining hurdles in two days.
Conceived as a sweeping 84-metre-wide, 5-kilometre artery, the project has languished for over a decade. (Representational image)
After years of painstaking negotiations, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has successfully wrested control of 100 properties standing in the way of one of the city’s most consequential road projects — the long-delayed Katraj-Kondhwa corridor linking the Pune-Satara and Pune-Solapur highways. Now, with a few properties still blocking the way, the municipal administration will use police force to acquire the remaining ones. The civic anti-encroachment department has been handed a two-day deadline to bulldoze any unauthorised structures in the way.
Conceived as a sweeping 84-metre-wide, 5-kilometre artery stretching from Katraj Chowk to Pisoli through the villages of Katraj and Kondhwa, the project has languished for over a decade. What was once a planning priority became a civic embarrassment over time as the area around it exploded with urban growth. The existing narrow road, now choked with heavy vehicles and commuters, has become a corridor of chaos, claiming lives in fatal accidents, while residents have endured gridlock that should have been solved years ago. The government had initially set out to acquire a 50-metre stretch of the proposed road—and that process is reaching its conclusion.
“The municipal administration has taken a very important and bold step to resolve the extremely serious traffic congestion on the Katraj-Kondhwa road connecting Satara Road to Solapur Road in Pune city. Having decided to directly accelerate the Katraj-Kondhwa road widening project, which has been stalled for many years and has become a headache for the residents, the civic body made a substantial provision for the first time from the municipal fund for land acquisition, along with some funds available from the government,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Omprakash Divate in a statement.
Special team to remove unauthorised constructions
The process of acquiring the land for the road’s development has been ongoing for the last few days.
“Of the 109 properties to be acquired, the Pune civic body has already taken possession of 100 properties by paying compensation to the owners in the last two weeks. Action will now be taken with police assistance to take possession of property from owners who are reluctant or refuse to provide the land required for the road. The civic anti-encroachment department has also been given directions to remove the encroachments or unauthorised constructions on these sites in the next two days,” Divate said.
Divate said that all small and large structures obstructing the Katraj-Kondhwa road work will be removed from areas where the municipal corporation has already taken possession. He added that instructions have been given to activate a special team to remove all unauthorised constructions within the road boundaries.
Chief Engineer Rajesh Bankar, who is the PMC’s road department in-charge, said, “The additional municipal commissioner has instructed the road department to carry out the road development work on all acquired vacant land speedily.”
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All the civic departments, including the road, land acquisition, property and management, have to take action together for the development of the Katraj-Kondhwa road, said Divate. “No laxity will be tolerated in this work,” he added.
If this ambitious project is completed on time, it will solve the area’s traffic congestion problem forever, making daily journeys very easy and fast, he said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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