MC inspects proposed BBPP road alignment, says road construction important to decongest stretch

Ram reviewed the alignment and ground conditions of the proposed road and was briefed on the sections that will be elevated to minimise the environmental impact

Municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram on Sunday visited the proposed Bal Bharati–Paud Phata (BBPP) road site along with senior officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) road department. Ram inspected the proposed BBPP road alignment and said that road construction is important to decongest the stretch. The visit comes days after the Supreme Court (SC) cleared the project earlier this week. Furthermore, it follows a joint inspection carried out on Friday by a team from the civic road department which announced that the civic body would soon appoint a consultant to secure the mandatory environmental clearance (EC) for the project.

The visit comes days after the Supreme Court (SC) cleared the project earlier this week. (HT)

Ram reviewed the alignment and ground conditions of the proposed road and was briefed on the sections that will be elevated to minimise the environmental impact. Accompanying him were chief engineer Aniruddha Pawaskar, superintendent engineer Abhijit Ambekar, executive engineer Purushottam Bhutada, deputy engineer Shailesh Wagholekar, chief garden superintendent Ashok Ghorpade, and ward officer Vijay Naykal. The commissioner directed officials to expedite the EC application process and initiate all procedures at the earliest. He also instructed the department to carry out extensive tree plantation along the alignment and across PMC-owned open spaces. To mark the beginning of the campaign, Ram himself planted a sapling at the site, followed by other officials who pledged to plant local and rare species on a large scale. “The BBPP road is crucial to decongest traffic on existing arterial roads. Work on this project must begin without further delay,” Ram said during the inspection.

The inspection by Ram assumes significance as it comes soon after the SC verdict allowing the long-pending project, and amid renewed preparations to resume work on the stretch connecting Law College Road and Paud Phata, a key corridor for traffic between central and western Pune. Earlier on Wednesday, the SC directed that the proposed ILS Hill Road, part of the BBPP link road planned through the Indian Law Society (ILS) and Law College Hill in Pune, can be constructed after obtaining EC. The case was heard by a bench of chief justice Bhushan Gavai and justice Vinod Chandran. Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, along with advocates Abhijit Kulkarni, Rahul Garg, Dhaval Malhotra, and Nisha Chavan, represented the PMC.

The bench held: “We direct that the project shall not be commenced unless EC is granted by the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) authority. Taking into consideration that the project has been pending for a long period, we direct that the EIA decide the application for grant of EC expeditiously.” The bench was hearing petitions filed by environmentalist Sushma Date and an intervention by the Indian Law Society, which owns a significant portion of the land through which the proposed alignment runs.