PMC removes over 100 shanties obstructing completion of new Sadhu Vaswani Bridge

As the old Sadhu Vaswani Bridge had been in existence for more than 50 years with no scope for refurbishment, the PMC decided to erect a new bridge at a cost of around ₹83 crore

With slums standing in the way of erecting the new Sadhu Vaswani Bridge at Koregaon Park, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) began removing them on Thursday. The action was taken by the Dhole Patil ward office, with more than 100 shanties expected to be taken down by Thursday evening.

The action was taken by the Dhole Patil ward office, with more than 100 shanties expected to be taken down by Thursday evening. (HT FILE)

A press statement issued by the PMC read: “The length of the new bridge is 640 metres. The work of the flyover started from the Koregaon Park side with the PMC erecting seven out of eight pillars. The work of the last pillar is pending due to the slums that are towards the VIP Circuit House.”

Executive engineer Yuvraj Deshmukh said, “The PMC began removing over 100 shanties that had become an obstacle in the completion of this flyover. Earlier, the slumdwellers were opposed to being relocated but the PMC held a dialogue with them and managed to shift them to a slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) building at Hadapsar survey number 132.”

As the old Sadhu Vaswani Bridge had been in existence for more than 50 years with no scope for refurbishment, the PMC decided to erect a new bridge at a cost of around ₹83 crore. Once completed, the bridge will help connect areas such as Ahmednagar Road, Kalyani Nagar and Pune railway station to Pune Camp, Solapur Road etc.

With construction of the bridge in progress, a circular traffic movement has been introduced wherein commuters have to take a longer route to reach their destinations. PMC officials claim that it will take at least nine months to complete construction of the new bridge.