₹3.72 cr track work at Pune’s Baburao Sanas ground faces being run-over by political events

The PMC floated a ₹3.71 crore tender for refurbishment of the existing track on February 4, 2019. The first public programme post-the the tender, will feature chief minister Devendra Fadnavis

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has began the process to erect a new synthetic athletic track at the Baburao Sanas ground amidst concern from civic officials, all of whom chose to remain anonymous, that repeated public use of the ground at Swargate by political parties is likely to damage the to-be laid track.

This athletic track at the Baburao Sanas ground is about to be relaid. The ground is used for most political events. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

The PMC floated a ₹3.71 crore tender for refurbishment of the existing track on February 4, 2019. The first public programme post-the the tender, will feature chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, this Saturday (February 9). The events are: the ground breaking ceremony of the multimodal hub at Swargate; and the launching of 25 PMPML e-buses for Pune.Neither of these are situated on, or near, the Baburao Sanas ground; yet, the events will take place at the ground itself.

Later on Saturday evening, the Maharashtra Metro rail corporation and PMC will jointly keep the CM locked in at the ground for another, yet to be announced, programme.

The anonymous PMC officers are equivocal about the fact that because Baburao Sanas ground is a sports complex, it should not be used for anything else.

“Usually, leaders claim they are not conducting the event on the track, but events happen right in the middle of the track. The track also gets used while mandaps are being installed,” an official said.

Piyush Bhonde, PMC engineer

Piyush Bhonde, the PMC engineer overseeing the refurbishment of the track said, “There is huge demand from sports organisations and players now that the refurbishment of the track is on. There is an event on the ground this coming Saturday, but as the current track is not in a good condition, it is okay. Once the refurbishment is completed, no events other than sports will be allowed on the ground.”

CM hits go on smart projects

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate key projects implemented by Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. (on Saturday at the Baburao Sanas ground. Smart city chief executive officer Dr Rajendra Jagtap said that Pune Smart City has developed the projects in view of the smart development in the city.

Under the Smart e-bus project, a total of 150 electric buses are being procured under the phase 1.