Pune: Citizens in the Pimpri-Chinchwad's Punawale, Tathawade, and Ravet area are plagued by various problems, which are proving to be difficult and are ruining the quality of life for citizens here. Residents are fed up with issues like traffic congestion, substandard roads, water supply, and health problems due to air and water pollution.
Citizens are making efforts at various levels to solve the problems in their societies and localities, and a part of this effort includes leveraging their value of votes for the upcoming Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections. According to available reports, the civic issues faced by people of these areas are likely to dominate the election discourse in the area.
The population is rapidly increasing in areas like Gaikwad Wasti, Malwadi, Vijay Nagar, Pandhare Wasti, and Kate Wasti within the Punawale, Ravet, and Tathawade vicinity. These areas were included in the PCMC from the Gram Panchayat in 1997. Today, the combined population of this area is said to be over three lakh. Due to these areas' proximity to the IT hubs of Wakad and Hinjawadi and the Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway, many people prefer to live in this area.
Punawale and Ravet are also surrounded by environmental elements like rivers and forests, making people want to live here. After being included in the Smart City initiative, many development works were started. However, the same projects have been ongoing for years, and citizens are still waiting for them to be completed. What was once a paradise now feels suffocating for both locals and migrants.
Infrastructure Issues Still Persist
Residents said that the route leading from Punawale village via the underpass to Kate Wasti and Gaikwad Nagar has many obstacles. It is a 30-metre road, but there are no median dividers, leading to a lack of traffic discipline. The quality of the service road work is substandard. Citizens here have been demanding an increase in the height and width of the Punawale and Tathawade underpasses for years. They are told that the underpass will be widened during the road-widening project.
Because of this, the PCMC and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are not taking the initiative to carry out any work before that. It is necessary to increase the carriage width of the internal roads, along with the highway service roads. The lack of public parking facilities also narrows the roads, often leading to congestion.
Commuters also complained that the underpasses at Ravet and Koyte Wasti are also narrow. Patches have been placed unevenly on the service roads and internal roads, which hinders smooth traffic flow. Citizens are demanding that more traffic police be deployed in all underpass areas on weekends. The issue of heavy vehicle traffic is currently a topic of discussion. Citizens question how heavy vehicles are allowed during morning and evening peak hours, despite a ban. These dumpers drive at high speed and in the wrong direction, increasing the risk of accidents. Since the dumpers are not covered, dust blows onto the road.
Air Suffocating, Water Undrinkable
Punawale has a large forest area spanning over 60 acres. The PCMC had planned to build a garbage depot here previously. However, local citizens strongly opposed it and got the project cancelled through correspondence at all levels. Citizens are now demanding the creation of an Oxygen Park there. They have even met with local representatives and submitted a letter outlining their demand. However, the recently released Development Plan (DP) includes a reservation for constructing a commercial building in this location. After successfully opposing the garbage depot, the citizens are now also opposing the commercial building.
Also, due to many RMC plants existing and traffic congestion problems, the Air Quality Index (AQI) is always a problem in this area. Residents suffer from poor air quality, and dust and soil particles in the atmosphere are inhaled by people here, resulting in health problems. Water pollution in the Pawana River is also at high levels. On Friday, foam was seen appearing on the Pawana River due to pollution levels. Residents of this area have decided that they will leverage upcoming PCMC elections to make their demands known to aspiring politicians, and only those who promise to solve them and have a concrete plan to solve them will be elected.
Citizens' Demands Regarding Heavy Vehicles
Just like Hinjawadi and Wakad, even this area has seen a rise in road accidents leading to deaths. Most of the time in these mishaps, heavy vehicles are involved. Also, these heavy vehicles result in traffic congestion due to their being slow-moving. Regarding them, residents have made the following demands:
- Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) plants should not be in residential areas.
- All heavy transport vehicles should be inspected.
- Documents of heavy vehicle drivers should be checked.
- Strict warnings should be issued regarding adherence to speed and other traffic rules.
- Strict measures should be implemented to ensure heavy vehicle movement is prohibited during the no-entry period.
- Traffic police should be deployed on busy routes in residential areas.
- The licence of the vehicle owner violating the rules should be revoked.
- If an accident occurs due to RMC plant vehicles or if rules are violated, the plant should be shut down.
Sumit Dhage, a resident of Punawale, said, "The underpass is the only convenient route for exiting Punawale. For the last 10 years, we have been told that the Punawale underpass width will be increased in the PCMC's development plan. But the implementation has not happened yet. They prepare Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) stating that the roads in Punawale will be widened, the underpass will be wider and higher, and the metro will run. However, it will take many years for this to become a reality. Until then, the situation here will become extremely difficult."
Rohit Yadav, a resident of Ravet, said, "The water supply in our area is very poor. Many times, we have to buy tanker water. Despite being included in the Smart City initiative and being next to the IT hub, we also face persistent electricity problems. My work from home is disturbed. Along with an inconsistent water supply, the water is also polluted. I took a home in this area many years ago, and it was fine then, but with time, it's becoming worse than ever.
