This ramp built in 2015 is still awaiting inauguration.
TWO RAMPS, on whose construction the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) spent crores, have remained non-functional for months, adding to the traffic problems on the Pune-Mumbai and Pune-Nashik highway stretches in the Kasarwadi-Nashik Phata area. One ramp had been constructed on the Pune-Nashik highway in 2015 but has not been thrown open for motorists. It took six months for constructing the ramp at a cost of over Rs 2 crore. While civic activists are alleging that the PCMC could not throw open the ramp as it was constructed at a wrong spot, PCMC officials denied the charge.
Activist Maruti Bhapkar said according to his information, the traffic police had denied permission for opening of the ramp three years back as the traffic from it flows straightaway to Nashik Phata chowk, where vehicles from several lanes converge. “In fact it runs parallel to the traffic coming from Pimpri side. It creates problems for vehicles taking a U-turn from Bhosari or moving to Pimpri from Nashik Phata chowk. A signalling system cannot be installed for such a chaotic traffic arrangement,” he said.
The traffic police, however, denied they had stopped the opening of the ramp. “I don’t think the police objected to the ramp two or three years ago. Still I will have to check the records,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic) Ashok Morale.
The traffic police said they had urged the PCMC to open the ramp on the Nashik highway only when the ramp work on the Pune-Mumbai highway was completed. “There is a problem with right turn at Nashik Phata chowk for traffic coming from Kasarwadi side. Once the right turn is closed, the signal system will be adjusted for the two ramps,” he said. The second ramp on the Pune-Mumbai highway, however, is caught in legal tangle. PCMC executive engineer Shrikant Savane said, “The former owner of the land on which the ramp is constructed has approached the Bombay High Court demanding five gunthas of land, which he claimed to be his. The court ruling is likely to come on Tuesday,” he said. PCMC officials said earlier two courts had rejected the owner’s appeals.
Savane also denied that the work on the ramp on the Pune-Nashik highway had been opposed by the traffic police. “There has been no objection… Once the second ramp on the Pune-Mumbai highway is ready, we will close the traffic turning right at Bhosari chowk,” he said.
Savane said traffic coming from Kasarwadi side will have to move from the ramp constructed near the petrol pump and then move on to the first flyover heading towards Pimple Saudagar to take the Bhosari route.