PMC to start work on BRTS route on old Pune-Mumbai highway

The civic body plans to spend Rs77 crore for the 2.2 km BRTS stretch and has floated tenders for the same

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has proposed work on yet another BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit Route) corridor on the old Pune-Mumbai highway from Khadki Cantonment to College of Engineering chowk. Work on the project will start soon, said officials.

The stretch at Khadki Cantonment area where the BRTS is proposed (HT PHOTO)

The civic body plans to spend Rs77 crore for the 2.2 km BRTS stretch and has floated tenders for the same.

VJ Kulkarni, head of the road department, PMC, said, “The stretch was proposed in the original BRTS plan. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) completed work on their side of the stretch years ago but due to land issues and defence permission, PMC was not able to execute the plan. Now, the issue is solved and we are working on road widening and along with that BRTS work will start.”

PMC road department’s junior engineer Pavan Mapari who is handling the project said, “Soon defence land will be in our possession and the process is underway. The existing road width at Khadki station area is 18 to 19 metres, which will widen to 42 metres.”

Mapari said, “PMC is appointing a consultant to prepare a detailed road map of the BRTS project on the 2.2 km stretch. PMC plans to erect five BRTS stops on this stretch along with other features. There is a bottleneck at Bopodi which we will clear soon.”

India’s first pilot BRTS project was planned in Pune in the year 2006. The project was executed on the Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar stretch. As many accidents were reported on the BRTS road, citizens opposed the project. Congress party which was ruling in the PMC under the leadership of MP Suresh Kalmadi faced the ire of residents due to the failure of the project. All the Congress members were defeated in the area in the municipal election held in 2007. So political parties went slow on BRTS project work.

Though Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was batting for the BRTS project, during their tenure from 2017 to 2022, they did not give momentum to the project and did not allow work on new corridors.