PMC starts cement-concrete road work at Katraj Chowk
PMC deputy engineer Dilip Pandkar confirmed that work on the cement-concrete road has already started at Gugale Plot
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started work on the cement-concrete road after acquiring key land parcels at Katraj Chowk and the project is expected to be completed within a month, easing traffic congestion in the area. The land acquisition process was completed on Tuesday under the guidance of municipal commissioner Dr Rajendra Bhosale and additional municipal commissioner Prithviraj B P. Key officials including deputy commissioner Pratibha Patil, deputy engineer Dingbar Bangar, and branch engineer Rupali Dhage played a crucial role in the process. Special land acquisition officers Harshad Ghule and Ajinkya Patil too contributed significantly.
PMC deputy engineer Dilip Pandkar confirmed that work on the cement-concrete road has already started at Gugale Plot. “The patch of road will be completed within a month. It will directly connect to Katraj-Kondhwa Road and help remove the long-standing bottleneck at Katraj Chowk,” he said. Since February 25 was a holiday, road construction officially began on Thursday.
In a crucial step towards reducing congestion at Katraj Chowk and on Katraj-Kondhwa Road, the PMC recently completed the acquisition of a 60 metre development plan (DP) road-bound property at s.no. 1/2 B which had been a major traffic bottleneck at Katraj Chowk for the past 28 years. The civic body paid ₹21.57 crore in compensation to the landowner for approximately 40 gunthas of land.
Long-standing traffic issues at Katraj Chowk
Katraj Chowk has faced severe traffic congestion for decades, even after construction of the Katraj-Kondhwa flyover near Katraj Zoo. The land acquisition was delayed due to legal disputes. Initially, the PMC offered landowner, Sanjay Gugale, transfer of development rights (TDR) as compensation but he declined and filed a writ petition against the PMC. In 2005, the court ruled that the PMC could not use the land without legally acquiring it.
In 2017, the PMC revised its DP and changed land reservation from a ‘park’ to a 60-metre road. To further address traffic problems, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) proposed a six-lane flyover, measuring 1,326 metre in length and 24.20 metre in width. This flyover will connect the Pune-Mumbai Bypass with the Kondhwa-Katraj Road, providing a long-term solution for congestion in the area.
