During a meeting at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) office on Tuesday, PMC and Pune’s traffic police discussed shifting autorickshaw stands from key areas to improve traffic flow in the city.
This comes amid frequent traffic congestion caused by autorickshaws halting along roadsides around intersections, resulting in severe gridlock.
The PMC officials said, beyond shifting the currently located auto stands, there are plans to propose a limit on the issuance of new autorickshaw permits. “Both PMC and Pune’s traffic police are coordinating to implement a combination of short-term and long-term solutions to address the gridlocks and improve the speed of traffic in the city,” said Omprakash Divte, additional municipal commissioner, PMC.
He also emphasised the successful intervention by PMC to remove obstructions like encroachment on Karve Road, Sinhagad Road, Dhayri, and Paud Road, where the traffic flow has been considerably improved.
Moreover, an improvement of traffic flow by around 5 to 10 per cent was witnessed in recent days because of proactive intervention by the traffic police at important intersections.
PMC Chief Naval Kishore Ram also said that the authorities are prioritising works to enhance the traffic flow in Pune, and efforts are being taken simultaneously to provide traffic officials at crucial intersections and to strengthen the public transport.
However, despite repeated complaints by the residents and police action, autorickshaws are seen halting along roadsides, causing traffic snarls in the city.
