Pune: Ganeshkhind Road likely to open to traffic by Saturday

PUNE: With the demolition of the E-Square flyover complete, the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA) hopes to open a clear and tarred Ganeshkhind Road to traffic by Saturday.
On Monday, the last leg of the flyover’s demolition work was completed, “in record time” as per PMRDA commissioner Suhas Diwase.

“The work progressed per schedule and, despite traffic diversions and the pandemic, there were no delays. The workers managed to meet the deadline,” Diwase told TOI.
The flyovers were demolished to make way for a new, 1.5km long double-decker flyover, which will support vehicular traffic on one tier, and on the second tier, the viaduct for the Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar Metro corridor that is being executed by PMRDA. This corridor is expected to be completed by 2023.
Matte and Associates, the sub-contractor appointed for the demolition, said the entire process took 25 days. “It took us 21 days to demolish the University flyover. Work had begun on July 14. Demolition of the E-Square flyover began in earnest on August 6,” the firm’s director, Ram Matte, said.
The engineering firm had earlier demolished Mumbai’s Lalbaug flyover and a structure in Nagpur in a short window, which Matte said was their speciality. “The demolition here was slightly delayed as the entire road could not be closed off,” Matte said.
Matte further said they flew more than 20 workers from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and also paid for the transport of more workers from other northern parts of India., as there was a manpower shortage in Pune. The workers stayed at vacant, unused flats about 1km from the site. “Transporting the huge machines by road from Udaipur, Rajasthan, was quite the test because the pandemic was at its peak two months ago,” Matte said.
“We worked through nights to complete the work,” Matte said. Over 50 workers were deployed for the demolition, which was carried out simultaneously at six different spots.
The debris has been moved to a site in Bavdhan. The reinforcement bars will be separated from the debris and crushed to size for use as road and pavement material.
The new flyover is expected to cost Rs240 crore. With Pune Municipal Corporation stating that it would not share the cost, PMRDA said it would speak to the state government to work out a funding plan.