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Deadline pressure mounts in Chakan as administration steps up ground action
The administration has set August 31 as the deadline for completing four immediate road-related works: filling potholes, repairing road shoulders and side strips, etc
With the clock ticking on a series of deadlines to address Chakan’s worsening infrastructure and traffic crisis, the district administration has begun finalising an integrated action plan, while police stepped up enforcement against heavy vehicles parked illegally along the Chakan-Talegaon highway on Saturday.
The administration has set August 31 as the deadline for completing four immediate road-related works: filling potholes, repairing road shoulders and side strips, clearing mud and debris deposited by rain and flooding, and removing garbage from roads. District collector Jitendra Dudi issued the directions at a review meeting on Friday, attended by officials from multiple agencies and representatives of industrial associations.
The administration has only a week to meet the deadline, and Dudi has said the progress of the works will be physically reviewed on Monday or Tuesday.
At the same time, authorities are working on a broader traffic management plan that is expected to be finalised by the end of the coming week. The plan will incorporate traffic management, parking, encroachment removal and road improvement measures rather than treating the problems separately.
Dudi has directed officials to use artificial intelligence-based traffic analysis and simulation to assess vehicle movement, traffic volumes, parking requirements and potential congestion points in the Chakan industrial area. The plan is expected to be approved in the first week of September, following which the administration wants the identified works to be completed within three to four months.
The administration is also working against a separate deadline on encroachments. The MIDC, Public Works Department, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), Maharashtra State Industrial Development Corporation (MSIDC), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and local bodies have been asked to jointly inspect roads and surrounding areas under their respective jurisdictions, prepare panchnamas and issue notices.
While the administration has set August 31 as the road-repair deadline, actual removal of encroachments is to begin this week.
Officials have been specifically asked to first clear encroachments along the 19-km stretch where traffic regularly gets held up and then undertake road improvement works.
While these deadlines are being pursued, the Pimpri-Chinchwad traffic police have already begun visible enforcement. “More than 50 heavy vehicles parked illegally along both sides of the Chakan-Talegaon highway have been towed since Friday, with challans issued to the vehicle owners,” DCP (traffic) Vikrant Deshmukh said on Saturday.
The action followed directions issued by Dudi and Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner Vinay Kumar Choubey to take immediate measures against traffic congestion, unauthorised parking, encroachments and poor road conditions in the industrial belt.
The administration has also been asked to identify additional parking capacity through the AI-based traffic study. This is significant because heavy-vehicle parking has been one of the major contributors to congestion on roads serving the Chakan and Talegaon industrial areas.
