The spat brought into the limelight that the PMC had spent Rs 1,300 crore in the development and maintenance of these stretches even though the civic body does not own them as per records.
The Supreme Court decision to ban sale of liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways passing through Pune has caused a dispute between the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Maharashtra Public Works Department (PWD). The dispute hinges on who should seek denotification of the highway status. However, the spat brought into the limelight that the PMC had spent Rs 1,300 crore in the development and maintenance of these stretches even though the civic body does not own them as per records.
Replying to the query raised by Congress corporator Avinash Bagwe, the civic administration said that the PMC has so far spent as much as Rs 1,300 crore in maintaining the stretch of state and national highways passing through its civic jurisdiction. In the written reply, the civic administration stated that there are 18 stretches of road in the PMC area that pass through civic jurisdiction.
The maximum expenditure of Rs 280.50 crore has been done in concretisation of the 8.5 km Pune-Ahmednagar road from Yerawada Bridge to the civic boundary. The concretisation of 7.5 km stretch on Pune-Satara road cost Rs 208.7 crore. The rest of the total expenditure has been done on other stretches of state and national highways passing through the city. The civic administration said that the PMC either carries out concretisation or tarring while developing roads with cost of Rs 5,500 per sq metre and Rs 3,500 per sq metre.
Among the state and national highways passing through Pune are Ahmednagar road to Paud road cutting across the city, Pune-Solapur Road, Pashan Road, Sus Road, Pune-Alandi Road, Katraj to Khadi Machine Chowk, Swargate to Nanded, Pune-Satara Road from Swargate to Katraj and Bund Garden Road.
