Peak hours are just for starters, wait till this stretch turns into a fish market

In rush hours, the area near the bridge is packed with traffic. And after 5 pm, it turns into a fish and vegetable market, packed with vendors and shoppers. At the same location, on the other side, there are encroachments by cafes and shops. On top of all that, the absence of designated parking has turned the footpath into a parking spot – not just for vehicles but for shops, too. In effect, nearly a kilometre of pavement has simply vanished.

Footpath encroachment at Manik Baug on Sinhagad Road. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)

Local residents say that work on a flyover by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has reduced the width of the road. “But this has hardly impacted the vendors, who have simply taken up more space,” said Suresh Patil, a local resident.

“Then there are the auto drivers who clog the road on both sides. There needs to be a fixed stand. That apart, there are also autos and private vehicles owned by local residents that are parked there,” said Vinod Dama, a resident.

“The encroachment on footpaths makes it difficult to find a way to the lane where our school is situated. There are a lot of problems during the opening and closing of school every day. We find vehicles parked on the main road itself,” said Soham Dedge, a student of Jog School, one of the several institutions in the area.

The choke-points are many. For instance, at Goyal Ganga junction, the footpaths are occupied by roadside eateries — from dosa carts to vada pav stalls and fruit sellers. Several cafes have also spilled over. “During rush hours, it becomes difficult for pedestrians and vehicle-drivers,” said Dama, the resident.

Deepa Pardeshi, who runs an electrical wares shop in Manikbaug, said that her “business has been adversely impacted due to the traffic congestion”. “The flyover work has added more problems…If pedestrians don’t have space to walk, how will they enter my shop?” she asked.

The vendors, however, pointed fingers at others. “We have licenses from the PMC and renew them yearly. We are also in talks with the administration for allotment of land. We are not the same as those who sell illegally from autos,” said Shanti Maushi, a vegetable vendor. Asked about vendors setting up semi-permanent shops on the bridge, she responded in anger.

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PMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner Pradeep Awhad, who is in charge of the area, said the civic administration has been “working hard” to remove encroachments from pavements. “We are working to make the entire Sinhagad Road as a hawker-free zone while taking steps to rehabilitate licensed hawkers. The PMC has already undertaken a survey of hawkers to verify their license. If the license is found to have been sub-let to others, that will be cancelled. Only the license holder will be included in the list of hawkers to be rehabilitated. We are identifying locations to rehabilitate the hawkers,” Awhad said.