Waterlogging, potholes, traffic snarls across city fuel commuters’ frustration
While the monsoon is an annual occurrence, residents said the response of the administration continues to fall short.
With rains expected to intensify over the coming weeks, commuters are calling for urgent civic intervention. (Express photo) Written by Kavyaa Masurkar & Kivi Lydia Vito
Severe waterlogging, pothole-riddled roads and prolonged traffic congestion have affected daily commute across the city for people, who expressed growing frustration over the lack of monsoon preparedness.
The situation has become especially difficult at Aundh. “Like every year, this monsoon too has made stepping out of the house nearly impossible,” said Sujay (22). “I regularly commute through Bremen Chowk, Parihar Chowk and SB Road and the condition is worsening by the day. Even a short spell or a light shower leads to chaos. The roads are full of potholes and impossible to drive on,” he added.
Sujata Bogawat, a Chartered Accountant 9CA), also from Aundh, said she is often forced to take longer, roundabout routes due to poor road conditions. “The PMC should take charge and ensure the roads are maintained properly. Also, the traffic police need to do more to ease congestion during peak hours,” she said.
Residents of south Pune flagged similar issues. Prakash, who lives in Dhayari and commutes via the Katraj route, said, “There’s always traffic at Katraj Chowk. The stretch of road near Gokul Nagar and the ISKCON temple has severely deteriorated due to rains. Despite being a double-lane road, traffic has only worsened since the advent of the monsoons.”
“I travel daily from Hadapsar Gadital to Wadia College and the recent rains have made travel by this route extremely difficult,” said Dipti Shingare, an assistant professor. She added, “Camp and Pune station area often get extremely congested due to waterlogging and potholes. On many occasions travelling through such areas is like gambling with your life.”
She said timely road repairs and better drainage management could go a long way in improving the situation. “Periodic cleaning of the drains before the rainy season would help. We also need a well-formulated traffic management plan for monsoon months,” she said.
In Wagholi, residents are facing severe waterlogging, particularly around Maple Hotel Road and Ubale Vasti. Dr Suraj Sonawane (38), an educator who travels daily from Kesnand Phata to Pune station, said the commute has become unpredictable and tiring. “Waterlogging and potholes have increased journey time. PMPML buses often break down because of poor road conditions,” he said.
The eastern corridor of Koregaon Park and Kalyani Nagar is also witnessing heavy congestion. Mir Saifee, a sales manager working in Koregaon Park, said the unpredictability of travel time has begun to affect work schedules. “The entire route from Westend to Carnival Restaurant is clogged with traffic,” he said.
“Despite the short distance between my home to my office, the travel time is now 50 minutes or more. Traffic police exist, but their numbers are grossly inadequate to handle the traffic volume. When in a rush, people tend to break rules and hence the authorities need to deploy more staff for effective traffic management,” he said.
While the monsoon is an annual occurrence, residents said the response of the administration continues to fall short. “Every year, we face the same problems. It is time the PMC and traffic authorities worked together proactively, not reactively, to address this issue,” said Bogawat.
With rains expected to intensify over the coming weeks, commuters are calling for urgent civic intervention before inter-city travel becomes completely untenable.
(Kavyaa Masurkar & Kivi Lydia Vito are interns with The Indian Express)
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