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Two months after announcement, state government finally approves ₹200 cr for Katraj-Kondhwa Road
The Katraj-Kondhwa Road has been in discussion since 2017, however, the PMC is unable to complete the work as land acquisition cost is more than the cost of constructing the road
The state government on Monday approved ₹200 crore for the proposed Katraj-Kodhwa Road. With this, all hurdles have been cleared for the construction of the 3.5 km stretch which promises to solve traffic mess on one of the busiest roads in city.
During the ongoing assembly session, state government on Monday approved various supplementary demands worth ₹41,000 crore which included the Katraj-Kondha Road project. In this, ₹1,000 crore were approved for carrying out infrastructure related projects.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) former legislator from Hadapsar Yogesh Tilekar, who had pushed for the project said, “Maharashtra government has approved ₹200 crore for Katraj-Kodhwa Road in the supplementary budget. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will receive the money soon and work on the project will resume immediately.”
The state government, had promised ₹200 crore for the proposed Katraj-Kodhwa Road in the third week of May, however, it was stuck due to paucity of funds mostly required for land acquisition.The announcement was made after chief minister Eknath Shinde announced that the state government will bare 60% project cost, and PMC had submitted a proposal for getting ₹2,000 crore government grant for various projects.
PMC road department head VJ Kulkarni said, “ We have made demands for various projects including Katraj-Kondhwa Road. PMC has so far not received the money, but we are hoping to get funds now from Maharashtra government for all infrastructure projects.”
The Katraj-Kondhwa Road has been in discussion since 2017, however, the PMC is unable to complete the work as land acquisition cost is more than the cost of constructing the road. The PMC recently decided to bring down the width of the road from 80 metres to 40 metres. The civic body dropped its plan of constructing cycle tracks, footpaths and green track which were to be done in the first phase. After getting more land PMC will implement these components, said officials
Officials from PMC administration said that the funds released by state government will be utilised mainly for land acquisition. The land owners in the stretch are not ready to give land for the road while asking for cash compensation instead of Transfer of Development Rights.
