After 17 years, Maurya Vihar soc finally gets approach road

Surrounded by newer residential complexes, residents of this society tucked away in Kothrud had made many demands for a straight road out, used a longer route for nigh on 2 decades; PMC says since a legal wrangle is finally resolved, it can go ahead and build the path now

It was all just about a road of less than 500 metres in length — but for residents of Maurya Vihar in Kothrud, it was a wait and demand of 17 long years that finally crystallised into reality.

After a series of protests and court cases about this tiny route over the years, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has finally started construction of the road that will save travel time for more than 2,000 citizens.

Maurya Vihar, near the well-known Mahatma Society, is one of the oldest residential areas of Kothrud. According to its residents, when the society was established, there were not many housing projects around, and they could travel to other parts of Kothrud through shorter routes. However, as the number of residential projects around the society grew rapidly, residents were left with no choice but to take a longer route of nearly three kilometres to come till the DP road.

“When residential projects started coming up in the locality, way back in 2002, a few residents from our complex had submitted a letter to PMC, requesting for an approach road for our society. However, the civic body did not take any cognisance of the letter, as a result of which we were left with no direct approach road to the main road,” said Shreepad Deshpande, one of the local residents.

The denizens also shared that in the absence of a dedicated connecting path, they had to take a longer route via Mahatma Society, which is over 2 km, to get home each time. “There are a lot of domestic help coming from nearby areas to our society who are forced to walk a very long distance to get to their work. There is a school right next door to us. But thanks to the lack of approach road, schoolchildren also walk two kilometres extra. All this is why we have been constantly demanding a road of our own, but in vain,” asserted another resident, Vilas Ingawale.

Over the last decade, many protests have been carried out for the route. Said resident Anil Ghatkar, “Many of us made multiple rounds of PMC with letters demanding an approach road for our society. In fact, during one Ganeshotsav, we decided not to immerse any Ganpati idols in protest of the civic body’s lax approach towards our requests.”

But finally, after a wait of nearly 20 years, PMC has cleared the dust — construction for the road has begun. Speaking about this work, local corporator Kiran Dagade Patil shared, “There was a private plot in the middle of the approach road, the owner of which had gone to court. PMC had promised to give him compensation for handing over the land for the road, but even after a final discussion, the owner went to court again for better compensation. Due to these legal proceedings, there was a delay in the road’s construction. Finally, the owner agreed to hand over the land and the road is now being built. It will be inaugurated in the last week of this month.

THE PATH TILL HERE

In 2018-19, PMC had allocated Rs 40 lakh for the construction of the road. However, since the private plot owner in the way had moved court, the road could not be constructed and the budget lapsed. Finally, this year, PMC allocated Rs 50 lakh for this thoroughfare, from which it is now being made.