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Corporates, officials join hands to address Pune’s civic woes
It is important that the private sector comes together with the public sector to get the results on the ground, said businessman Yohan Poonawalla
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Vikram Kumar, additional municipal commissioner Vikas Dhakane, businessman Yohan Poonawalla, his wife Michelle, along other officials held a meeting at Koregaon Park on Monday to discuss various civic issues.
Yohan said, “It is important that the private sector comes together with the public sector to get the results on the ground instead of undertaking projects in isolation. We had a fruitful discussion with the PMC commissioner on various subjects like Pune Metro, airport, roads, etc.”
Also present at the meeting were cardiologist and managing trustee at Ruby Hall Clinic Dr Purvez Grant, prominent industrialist Pheroz Pudumjee, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ali Daruwala, Advocate Shreyas Adyanthaya, Jehangir H C Jehangir of Jehangir hospital and Vishal Chordia of Suhana Masale.
Kumar said, “The population is expanding rapidly in Pune and the need for creation of a robust infrastructure to match up with the unprecedented growth is necessary. The airport connectivity in terms of international flights is poor, and we need more international flights.”
“It was a fruitful meeting and we hope to launch some important citizen-centric initiatives through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding,” Kumar said.
Dr Grant said, Pune is the eighth biggest city in India but it doesn’t have international connectivity and there are only two flights-Singapore and Dubai. “The runaway extension has to be fixed within the next six months to improve connectivity in terms of international flights,” he said.
“We discussed traffic management and the fine amount must go up significantly,” he added.
According to Daruwala, the meeting was towards taking a major step in the direction of making Pune an international city with one of the best civic infrastructures in the near future.
Demolition of Sadhu Vaswani flyover
During the meeting traffic congestion due to the demolition of the Sadhu Vaswani flyover was also discussed.
Kumar said, “As the Sadhu Vaswani flyover has become old, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had initially decided to strengthen it but of no use. Hence, the civic body decided to demolish the flyover and construct a new one in its place. Before starting the work, the PMC is introducing an alternate traffic plan. After getting the traffic results, the PMC will make the necessary changes with the help of the traffic police. We will ensure that citizens are minimally hassled due to this work.”
