As Shinde’s convoy, which was on its way to Satara, got stuck in a traffic jam at Chandani Chowk, angry commuters made him come out of his vehicle and inundated him with complaints against the daily jams at the spot. (File Photo)After Chief Minister Eknath Shinde got stuck in a traffic jam at Pune’s Chandani Chowk on the Mumbai-Bangalore highway on Friday, top officials reached the spot on Saturday to take stock and initiate steps to ease bottlenecks on the highway stretch.
For months, commuters have faced traffic jams daily on this stretch as the NHAI has been constructing a flyover at the spot.
As Shinde’s convoy, which was on its way to Satara, got stuck in a traffic jam at Chandani Chowk, angry commuters made him come out of his vehicle and inundated him with complaints against the daily jams at the spot.
Shinde immediately contacted the district collectorate, PMC commissioner, city police commissioner, NHAI officials and the state chief secretary and directed them to resolve the issue.
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A team of top civic and traffic officials from PMC and PCMC reached Chandani Chowk on Saturday morning for an on-the-spot inspection.
District Collector Rajesh Deshmukh said that traffic across nine lanes was being forced to ply on three lanes, thus creating a bottleneck at the stretch.
He added that the NHAI has been told to demolish the old bridge and build two new lanes without any delay. “They have promised us that in the next 15 days, the bridge will be demolished and in another 15 days, two new lanes will come up,” he said.
“After the two new lanes are made operational, there will be five lanes, which will considerably ease the bottleneck,” he added.
Desmukh further said that he will review the situation every few days and ensure that the traffic situation is eased.