PMC begins process to acquire land for bus stands in Baner

The PMC, in order to tackle increasing traffic chaos, has been planning to decongest city roads by developing bus stands for state buses on the outskirts of the city to prevent their needless entry into the city to the bus stands located at Pune railway station, Swargate and Shivajinagar.

Accordingly, the civic body has made reservations in Baner for a bus stand for state and local buses owned by the state to ensure last mile connectivity.

“The reserved Baner land is located alongside Mumbai–Bangalore bypass so a state transport bus stand will ensure that state buses plying between Mumbai to Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Bangalore do not enter the city. This will help decongest city roads. The bus stand will also cater to PMPML buses to allow commuters to use city transport for last mile connectivity from Baner. Moreover, the metro station is being developed alongside on Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar route which will also help commuters,” said civic officer.
Currently, state buses use Baner road to reach bus stands in the city, he said, which leads to traffic chaos which makes commuting arduous, as it takes an hour to cover the distance.

The PMC had acquired part of land in the past and was using it as a PMPML bus depot, while the rest of the land has been reserved for development of the bus stand. However, owners of the land which has been reserved by PMC, have issued a purchase notice to the civic body, demanding that either PMC acquire the plot, or it removes the reservation tag. Owners are unable to use their land for their own projects due to the reservation tag, which is a loss to them.

The civic administration stated that of the total 7,115-sqm plot reserved for PMPML, a plot measuring 30,094 sqmt has been reserved for MSRTC state buses, and 552 sqm for a 30-metre wide road in the area. However, only a part of the land has been acquired for the facility.

Further on, a 467.52-sqmt plot is still to be acquired for PMPML bus stand estimated to cost Rs 1.64 crore, a plot of 14529.83 sqmt has to be acquired for MSRTC bus stand at Rs 66.72 crore and 552.5 sqmt for developing a road at an estimated Rs 2.53 crore. “The estimated cost will vary at the time of actual purchase,” said the municipal commissioner, who added that the process for this should be begun now.