Pune City crumbles under record rainfall, authorities fail citizens as chaos unfolds

Despite the India Meteorological Department issuing an alert, Pune’s civic and traffic management systems proved woefully inadequate for the deluge, leading to a gridlock that all but brought the city to a grinding halt

The downpour on Wednesday evening, measuring 133 mm in just over three hours, exposed the cracks in the city’s infrastructure, not to mention the failure of the city authorities, as Punekars were left to fend for themselves amid waterlogged roads and severe traffic jams.

. Key roads including the old Mumbai-Pune highway, Ganesh Khind Road and various arterial routes in the city’s bustling Peth areas were blocked as traffic lights failed and traffic police were nowhere to be seen. (MAHENDRA KOLHE/HT PHOTO)

Despite the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing an alert, Pune’s civic and traffic management systems proved woefully inadequate for the deluge, leading to a gridlock that all but brought the city to a grinding halt.

The lack of coordination between the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), traffic police, and other government agencies was evident as commuters, many of them office-goers, were stuck in traffic for hours. Key roads including the old Mumbai-Pune highway, Ganesh Khind Road and various arterial routes in the city’s bustling Peth areas were blocked as traffic lights failed and traffic police were nowhere to be seen. There was waterlogging along stretches like S B Road and Nal Stop Chowk which made matters worse.

Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj who was caught in the mayhem described his ordeal saying that it took him more than four hours to travel from his Akurdi office to his home in Koregaon Park, a journey that normally takes just 35 minutes. “The inexplicable failure of traffic signals and the absence of traffic police made an already bad situation unbearable,” said Bajaj. “While I was in the comfort of a car, those on foot, two-wheelers, or in buses faced even worse conditions. This is a clear sign of lack of accountability on the part of the authorities.”

Pune’s PMPML buses ran over an hour late, leaving commuters stranded at bus stops across the city. “I travel daily from the PMC bus stand to Chinchwad but yesterday, the buses were delayed by more than an hour. When one finally arrived, it was packed beyond capacity. I reached home as late as 10 pm,” said Swati Khedekar.

Adjoining areas like Pimpri-Chinchwad too suffered, as passengers at the Swargate ST bus stand waded through knee-deep waters to catch their respective buses. Smira Gandhi recalled, “We left Sangavi at 6 pm to catch an 8 pm train but were stuck in traffic for nearly two hours. We thought we would miss our train but reached the station in the nick of time.”

On his part, Amol Zende, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said, “As there was sudden rain across the city, there was waterlogging everywhere on the roads. Those who were travelling had to stop due to waterlogging on the roads. Also, a large number of public transport buses broke down leading to traffic congestion. Our traffic policemen were deployed all around the city but due to heavy rain, there was major traffic congestion. Still, we are working to improve our traffic management systems in such crises.”

The torrential rain not only inundated the city roads but also brought to the fore its fragile infrastructure. Thousands of Punekars were left stranded, navigating unresponsive traffic systems and roads that resembled rivers. Even after the rain subsided, the frustration of Punekars was palpable as they questioned the authorities’ preparedness (rather lack of) in such situations.