E-Paper
Three months later, PMC dismantles Ahmednagar Road BRTS in parts
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has only partially dismantled the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on Pune-Ahmednagar Road, leading to traffic congestion and accidents. The PMC has placed signage and bollards at one accident-prone spot, but more needs to be done.
Three months have passed since the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided to dismantle the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on Pune-Ahmednagar (Nagar) Road from Parnakuti (Yerawada) to Viman Nagar Chowk however the civic body has managed to dismantle the BRTS only in parts. As a result, traffic congestion and accidents continue to occur on this arterial road.
Since the announcement in June, the PMC has only managed to dismantle the BRTS on this road from Parnakuti (Yerawada) to Gunjan Chowk, and Ramwadi Octroi Post to Novotel Hotel (Wadgaon Sheri Chowk). The BRTS elsewhere on this road continues to cause accidents, especially near Gunjan Chowk where all private luxury buses and state transport (ST) buses halt, Shastri Nagar Chowk, and Chandrama Hotel. So much so that the Yerawada traffic police have written to the PMC to at least place reflectors on the BRTS railing in the accident-prone areas to prevent accidents from occurring. Of these, the PMC has managed to place bollards and signages at Gunjan Chowk.
Shailesh Shankhe, police inspector, Yerawada traffic branch, said, “In the last one month, more than five accidents have occurred at three spots. Especially Gunjan Chowk is one of the dangerous spots where commuters hit the BRTS railing. We have written two letters so far. Finally, the PMC has placed signage only at the Gunjan Chowk spot.
“The PMC had announced plans to dismantle the BRTS on this stretch but they have not. It is the PMC’s decision and we cannot pursue it,” he said.
Upendra Vaidya from the PMC road department, said, “We have dismantled only certain parts of the BRTS on Nagar Road where the road becomes narrow due to the metro pillars and staircase and causes traffic congestion. On Saturday, we placed signage and plastic bollards with reflectors at the Gunjan Talkies Chowk. We have also removed some of the railing near the Gunjan Talkies Chowk and cleared the road. We will repeat the same at the other two accident-prone spots. There is no need to dismantle the entire Nagar Road BRTS.”
Qaneez Sukhrani, convenor, Association of Nagar Road Citizens’ Forum, said, “I have been an opponent of the BRTS since 2006 as the BRTS Global Concepts and Features are not being used. Because a wide portion of Nagar Road is taken up by the segregation for the BRTS, traffic congestion on the MV lanes is tremendous. After the announcement of the PMC, it should have dismantled the BRTS from Parnakuti (Yerwada) to Viman Nagar Chowk completely and not in parts for better results.”
