Widening of 6km stretch of old Pune-Mumbai highway stretch in Khadki hits roadblock

PUNE: The proposed widening of 6km stretch of the old Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki has hit a roadblock with the Pune Municipal Corporation conveying to the defence authorities that it would not buy 10.76 acres of defence land required for the project.
A board of officers (BOO) set up by the Station Headquarters, Khadki, had cleared handing over of the defence land to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for the project, subject to conditions that the civic body would give an equal value land in exchange or purchase the same outright. It also asked the PMC to construct a flyover at All Saints chowk along the highway and widen two underpasses in the Khadki Range Hills area.
“The cost of the road widening project is about Rs65 crore. If we purchase defence land, the cost would escalate to around Rs200 crore. Hence, we have informed the Station Headquarters, Khadki, that we shall not buy the defence land,” Lalit Bode, the executive engineer of the PMC’s road department, told TOI.
Bode said, “Since the PMC does not have any land plot, we have decided to write to the district administration to consider permanent transfer of one of the several land plots given on lease to the defence establishments. We shall be able to resolve the issue if this happens.”
The defence and the PMC authorities have had several rounds of discussions on this issue over the last year-and-a-half, but without any solution.
Pune zone’s defence estate officer Rajendra Pawar told TOI, “The BOO has categorically put forth certain conditions before the PMC. Unless they follow it, we cannot take any decision on transfer of defence land for the road widening project.”
The required land is owned by Station Headquarters, Khadki, Ammunition Factory Khadki, Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) and the Department of Post.
Referring to the flyover and widening of underpasses in Khadki Range Hills, a senior defence officer said, “These two projects would help resolve the issue of frequent traffic congestion.”
The PMC officials stressed that the same would prove to be a costly affair. “During the widening work, we shall have to reconstruct demolished structures along the highway. It will cost us a few crores. These additional infrastructure works would upset our budget. We shall discuss this with the defence authorities,” said a senior PMC officer said.