Roads are absent from this area in Mhalunge, residents’ plea remains unheard - Hindustan Times
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Roads are absent from this area in Mhalunge, residents’ plea remains unheard

Hindustan Times, Pune | ByPrachi Bari, Pune
Jul 19, 2018 04:32 PM IST

Stretch between Mercedes showroom and Sanjeevani Sangam Society is devoid of even patches of asphalt and is covered with only sludge during the monsoon

It has been more than five years since 5,000 residents of Mhalunge were promised a five kilometre stretch of road by their developers and civic authorities. However, the promise still stands unfulfilled. With monsoon arriving in the city, there is practically no road which connects to the main highway hardly a few metres away. The small stretch from the societies to the main road seems too difficult to traverse as residents have to tackle potholes and sludge with the fear of skidding or meeting with an accident.

Bad condition of the road in Mhalunge in Pune.(HT PHOTO)
Bad condition of the road in Mhalunge in Pune.(HT PHOTO)

Pankaj and Shradha Damle shifted about 5 months ago to Yashwin society in Mhalunge, but are not happy with the move. “Due to rain, there is no road and to add to the problem, there are no street lights or a drainage system in place. We have seen two-wheelers trying to navigate through the patch and I worry about my pregnant wife, who has to commute from Deutsche Bank in Yerawada to Mhalunge-Sus everyday. Sometimes, she feels she is going to lose our baby because of this road stretch between Mercedes showroom and Sanjeevani Sangam Society,” said Damle with anguish.

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With incessant rains, massive potholes emerge and no private transport is willing to come to the area. “Private cab drivers blatantly refuse a ride to this part of the area,” said Damle. If this wasn’t enough, the residents cannot even order food or products online as no delivery or courier executive agrees to come here, said another resident.

According to Aditya Kumar Gupta, who is a member of the Sus-Mhalunge Residents Association, there are ten housing societies and almost 5,000 residents living here. “When we booked our flats here it was because there was a road shown on the map which would cut short our travel time to work in Hinjewadi. Now, I leave my home at 7 am to avoid going through the pothole-riddled road and traffic jams. We also got to know that our societies are on the boundary of Sus and Mhalunge and hence, we are left with no authority looking after us,” said Gupta.

Another resident from Teerth Towers, Harish Hingmire, met with an accident with his wife while riding his two-wheeler on the road. “We usually use our car, but that day, we were using our two-wheeler and met with an accident.”

Somnath Gund, also from Teerth Towers, said, “The government gets almost 100 crore as income tax revenue from residents in our area and annually we paying more than 1 crore as property tax collected by the grampanchayat. Still, we are struggling to get the basic infrastructure in place. Sometimes I feel roads in many villages are better than our area.”

Residents have tried to speak to both PMC as well as the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), but in vain. Kiran Gitte, chief executive officer, PMRDA, told Hindustan times, “I am aware of this road and since it is on the boundary, there have been issues of litigation as well as of land acquisition. We have been approached by the developers from Sus side, with whom we are now speaking about constructing a road in three months.”

However, when residents went to meet Gitte, the PMRDA commissioner said that PMRDA will not construct the road as builders had given an undertaking that they would develop the road in the area. According to Gupta, Gitte also said that PMRDA lacks funds for it.

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