Pune: PMC Pushes Road Widening, Land Acquisition For Faster Access To Pune Airport

In an effort to streamline traffic flow in the eastern parts of Pune, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Special) Omprakash Divate conducted a detailed site inspection on Wednesday, covering the stretch from Gunjan Chowk to Airport Road, as well as the proposed development of the road between Puru Society and Aeromall.

During the inspection, Divate issued key directives to concerned department heads and deputy commissioners regarding land acquisition, road expansion, and beautification work.

Officials were instructed to verify the status of the land acquisition of the plot near 509 Chowk and Puru Society. The Additional Commissioner stressed that the Construction Development Department should confirm the required acquisition and mark the land immediately to facilitate the development of three adjoining roads.

Divate also directed that the proposal prepared under Section 37 between Puru Society and Sabha Mandap Plot be revised. The amended plan should incorporate a 30-metre road as discussed during the visit, and the updated map should be submitted for approval to invite objections and suggestions.

Highlighting delays in certain PPP road projects due to land acquisition hurdles, Divate said that savings from such projects should be redirected toward the construction of the Puru Society–Shubh Mandap road. This, he said, would enable an additional approach road to the airport within a short timeframe.

He further instructed officials to immediately operationalise the street hawker zone created under CSR initiatives. This includes allocating spaces to hawkers, keeping nearby areas free of encroachment, ensuring smooth traffic movement, and conducting regular monitoring to prevent hawkers from returning to no-hawker zones.

The Additional Commissioner also reviewed the stretch between Nagpur Chawl and 509 Chowk. He instructed that the road be widened by one to two metres on both sides wherever space permits, while ensuring that existing trees are preserved or replanted. A revised concept plan is to be submitted by the architect, and beautification work along this road is to be undertaken through CSR support from developer Atul Chordia.

Those present during the inspection included Chief Engineer (Roads) Aniruddha Pawaskar, Superintendent Engineer Ashit Jadhav, Executive Engineer Sanjay Dharav, developer Atul Chordia, and engineers from the Roads Department.