Pimpri-Chinchwad: In a bid to improve traffic congestion and discourage the unruly drivers in Morwadi Chowk (aka Finolex Chowk) in the heart of the city, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) went out of the box and tried out a solution. They placed cement barricades in the forever-busy square, which is already narrow, and the plan has allegedly severely backfired. The traffic congestion problem has worsened due to this, said commuters.
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Morwadi Chowk houses an entry to the PCMC Metro Station and is also an important square that connects key roads of the city, including the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway service roads. Also, as many commercial complexes are there in the area, and so is the PCMC building nearby, commuter movement is always heavy in this square.
Good Intentions, Poor Execution
PCMC had the right intentions, according to some citizens. The square always has unruly drivers who don't follow traffic signals and also drive on the wrong side to beat traffic. Seeing this, the PCMC administration installed cement blocks and barricades for the purpose of junction improvement to tackle traffic congestion and make drivers follow rules. But residents claim that although the intention was right, the execution was wrong, and the situation has worsened.
Ram Ghorpade, a resident of Akurdi, said, “The square is filled with unruly drivers, no doubt. However, installing these barriers is not the solution. I don't know what PCMC was thinking. Work is underway to narrow the road under the guise of junction improvement, wasting money. In the future, money will also be spent to do the same work. This will result in a waste of funds. Nothing will be achieved by this.”
PCMC & Police Lock Horns
Senior Police Inspector Varsharani Patil, in charge of Pimpri Traffic Division, said, "When the PCMC placed blocks in the square, we informed the PCMC about the resulting traffic congestion. However, the PCMC has ignored it. The Traffic Branch has also not responded to the Street Design project."
There is a constant murmur in the traffic branch that PCMC is actually worsening the traffic congestion in the city due to the urban street design project and other developmental works in the city. But the brunt of the increasing traffic congestion within the city and the wrath of citizens has to be faced by the traffic branch.
However, PCMC's Joint City Engineer Bapusaheb Gaikwad defended this move by the civic body. He told the media, “Junction improvement has been carried out to prevent traffic congestion in the Ahilyadevi Holkar Chowk area and to ensure citizens can cross the road safely. If the road behind the signal is 7 or 10 metres, the junction should also have 7 and 10 metres of space for vehicles. The cement blocks and barricading have been installed so that vehicles stop in a single lane, do not approach from the wrong direction, and auto-rickshaws do not stop in the junction. The Police Commissioner and the Municipal Commissioner have given permission for the junction improvement, and therefore, it is being implemented.”
‘We Will Protest If Blocks Aren't Removed'
Former Corporator Shailesh More has made it clear to the civic body that if these barricades aren't removed, the residents will protest. He said, "PCMC officials are posted in the city today; they may not be tomorrow. But we locals are here permanently. Therefore, we will have to bear the brunt of these changes. We object to the narrowing of the road in the name of junction improvement. The administration should immediately remove these blocks, or we will launch an agitation."
More also alleged that PCMC is narrowing roads in various parts of the city under the guise of urban street design. In the Morwadi Chowk especially, the traffic is already disrupted by the BRT, Metro, auto-rickshaw stand, and bus stops. Despite this, the PCMC took this decision without any prior notice, said More.
