E-Paper
PMRDA may revise cost of GaneshKhind Road flyover due to slow progress
Hearing the petition High Court (HC), had recently asked authorities to constitute a committee to review tree cutting and file report before the court
The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) may have to revise its cost for construction of double-decker flyover on Ganesh Khind Road in view of the slow progress. The progress of the flyover has slowed down due to a stay in tree cutting as a part of road widening on the stretch following a petition by some environments in the High Court. Hearing the petition High Court (HC), had recently asked authorities to constitute a committee to review tree cutting and file report before the court.
The PMRDA and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have undertaken road widening work as part of the Pune Metro line 3 at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) on Ganesh Khind Road. The PMRDA is constructing an 881-metre-long double-decker flyover at the same place with the elevated Metro rail route forming the upper deck and three roads connecting to Ganesh Khind Road forming the lower deck. Whereas the PMC will construct four underpasses. However, civic activists raised concerns over the razing of trees for road widening work, and approached the HC about the same. The HC then directed that a committee be constituted to review tree cutting and file reports before it. On 22 December, 2023, a bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Arif Doctor, while hearing a petition filed by the NGO, Parisar, ordered that a committee be constituted to find a solution such that the minimum number of trees would be cut during road widening. The HC asked the committee to submit its report within two months. Accordingly, a committee was formed which included a road construction expert from CSIR (Central Road Research Institute) Delhi; the head of IIT Mumbai’s environmental engineering department; a representative of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI); an expert from IIT Mumbai’s town planning department; and additional municipal commissioners (PMC).
According to the HC order, the committee would study and recommend the best possible plan so that the maximum number of trees could be saved on the one hand while road widening and the Metro rail project could be executed on the other hand. The committee visited Ganesh Khind Road and the PMC presented its perspective.
Rinaj Pathan, chief engineer, PMRDA, said, “Due to tree cutting issues, there has been a delay in the project. The PMC has completed most of the road widening work. Now, an expert committee is going to submit a report in the HC after which, the flyover work will start. If the tree cutting issue prolongs further, we will have to calculate the financial losses as we are developing the Pune Metro line 3 under public-private partnership (PPP). Hence, we have decided to calculate the financial losses due to the delay in the work.”
One of the officials said, “As per the clause in the PPP model, if there is a delay in the project, the government gives the escalation cost. Because, the government body acquires the land and hands it over to the company. After that, the company completes the project. Land acquisition is the responsibility of the government body and not the company. However, it is a fact that most of the case projects are delayed due to land acquisition problems.”
PMC waiting to resolve tree cutting issue soon
Meanwhile, Vikas Dhakane, additional municipal commissioner, said, “We are expecting a report soon. After getting the report, we will request the HC to conduct a hearing.”
Manoj Ghate, engineer of the PMC road department, said, “The committee has completed the site visit. The committee has conducted two meetings in which we have put forward our stand. Now, we are waiting for the committee report. The next hearing of the case is on April 17, 2024.”
