PMC to appoint advisory committee to trace & complete 273 km of missing roads in DPs

An internal survey conducted by the PMC had found 273 kilometres of roads at 390 spots (links) missing from the old and newly-merged village areas under the corporation

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will be appointing an advisory committee to suggest remedial measures to trace 273 kilometres of missing roads from the development plans (DPs) of the civic body. A proposal to that effect will be sent to the standing committee for approval. An internal survey conducted by the PMC had found 273 kilometres of roads at 390 spots (links) missing from the old and newly-merged village areas under the corporation.

According to the transport department study, if the missing roads are constructed, the problem of acute traffic congestion in the city will be a thing of the past. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The advisory committee will appoint a surveyor whose task will be to survey 50 kilometres of roads from the centre of important spots where the roads have gone missing. A missing road development project will be made with details such as total length of the missing portion, land on which acquisition has to be carried out for road construction, name of the landlord, what portion of land belongs to the government or civic body, and what will be the total cost readied by the committee.

According to the transport department study, if the missing roads are constructed, the problem of acute traffic congestion in the city will be a thing of the past. The PMC has a policy wherein it compensates landlords who part with their land for road projects by giving them FSI (floor space index) and TDR (transfer of development roads) in lieu of the land acquired by the civic body. In the PMC’s experience, landlords demand thrice the compensation as per the ready reckoner rate, which complicates the land acquisition process and leads to pending road construction work for decades on end. As a result, the road remains incomplete and over the years, it falls off the DP map till some alert citizens and officials dig up past details of the road project and help draw attention to it once again.

NIBM annexe forum director Daljeet Goraya said, “We feel that the appointment of an advisory committee is an eyewash as landlords are a very powerful lobby and cannot be convinced by the PMC. At the same time, the previous, two-decade-long nexus between the PMC and landlords is the main reason behind the complete failure of road construction projects wherein land could not be acquired from the landlords. With the inordinate delay and land prices going up, the landlords can never feel satisfied with the compensation and even the PMC does not have those kind of funds to pay them.”

While PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar said, “The PMC has a provision of Rs100 crores annually for land acquisition purposes in the budget. Which missing roads are to be dealt with on a priority basis will be decided by the administration. This will help in streamlining the traffic congestion, and help us complete the pending road construction works in the city.”