Watch Out : Danger Ahead

Baner road is getting more dangerous as the monsoon approaches. People are worried but PMC is still working.

Last year, due to the heavy rains, various parts of Pune faced problems. One of these areas was Baner road. There was water lodging on the road making it impossible for the commuters. Pune Municipal Corporation take up this task and said to complete the work before monsoon. Now, when the monsoon has arrived, people from this area didn’t see any major change in the condition.

Four years back, this road was reconstructed and broadened under the JNNURM project. But, there were many works which were incomplete and are being in that state since then. Madhurkar Kulkarni, an auto driver who moves in this road daily says, “We can see the work is going on since long time but it is really difficult to see it getting complete in near future”. The drainage system is not well due to which last year he got stuck in the water lodge for whole night. “The road near the Food Bazaar area doesn’t have any proper drainage system. This is the reason, last year; many people got stuck there for whole night”, adds he.

During monsoon, the chances of accidents in this area increases a lot. Mahurkar explains, “This road is cemented due to which we (from pg..1)

see many two wheeler riders losing control due to the stagnant water”. Sandeep Subhedar, a professional from this area, supports and says, “This road is really dangerous. I have seen many people falling from my own eyes. The main problem of this road is the poor drainage system”. People complaint about the traffic jams in this road and less presence of the traffic police officers in this area.

The condition of the road is not the only thing these people are worried of. The divider on this road is also a reason. On Baner-Aundh circle, the unfinished divider work is the cause of many accidents on this road. Waseem Alam Mansoori, a student, says, “I have saved my life many a times. The start point of divider is unfinished and while traveling at night, we can’t see that”. The PMC is sleeping and not listening to the voices of the citizens. With accidents happening every day, no steps has been taken yet.

PMC said, under JNNURM when the roads will be widening up, the trees alongside the road will be relocated to some other place. After 4 years, those are not seen rather in their place they have planted new trees. PMC doesn’t have answer to this activity they did. As the monsoon approaches, people who travel in this road are more concerned about the road condition than anything else. They are worried, when this year monsoon has arrived early, what will be the condition this year when it will rain heavily, as been since last few years.

The road condition is not bad only in Baner and Aundh. The road work which is going on at Sangvi Phata is also making trouble. This work is on since long time and not yet completed. During normal days, it gets full of traffic jam at peak hours. People are worried about what will happen in monsoon. The road is not smooth due to which if someone falls has a greater chance of getting injured. Shashikant Sharma, a professional, says, “I travel a lot on that road. During peak over it’s difficult to go. I am just wondering when the work is going to complete. Monsoon has arrived and we will face lots of problems. Hope PMC listens to us”. This road, which was suppose to get complete before the Commonwealth Youth Games, but it seems the work is still on and would be complete, hopefully. Citizen of this area are worried about the completion of work which has started. The monsoon has knocked the doors but the work is still on. They fear PMC will move back leaving the uncompleted work due to monsoon making the road more dangerous. When tried to contact the concerned officer, he was unavailable to comment.



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