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“I can't
have my employees sitting in traffic when they should be in the office.
Spending two-and-half hours in the car is a huge waste of productive time” …
Azim Premji
“Traffic
congestion is caused by people driving vehicles & not by the vehicles” … Jane
Jacobs
“Your few
minutes of patience can save hours of traffic jams!” … Anon
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Three quotes to start a sharing is something I have
not done in recent & many people may end their patience in quotes itself is
one problem a writer may face but when the subject is as complex as our beloved
Pune city’s traffic then even three quotes are not enough is what most readers
will agree so be it! And then Pune has been blessed with a unique quality of
making an issue out of thin air & here to we have nearly four kilometres
long road which cut through one of the most celebrated hills (there are very
few left now) of Pune, its range of hills spread across south-western part of
Central Pune which are known as Vetal Hill, Hanuman Hill, Law College Road
hill, ARAI hill & such. In nutshell these hills are the favourite
destination for morning/evening walks of Punekars living in the central part of
the city & indeed there has been lots of greenery also here. These hills
are surrounded by three major roads (read as busy) on its three sides, on
Southern West there is Paud Road, on Northern West there is Senapati Bapat road
(SB Road) & parallel to these hills on its bottom side towards city runs
Law College Road which connects SB road to Paud Road via short span of Karve
road, which is one busiest road in the city! In a way Law college road is the
only link right now which connects two major western suburbs of city i.e. Aundh
& Kothrud & the commuters on this road can rash over half a million on
a busy work day (guess). And then the entire law college road is surrounded by
an elite area which carries the tag of costliest area in west of Pune &
needless to say residents here are effluent people of the society. So, traffic
congestion on law college road has become talk of the town where residents
living on both sides of the road have to wait for fifteen minutes & more to
even enter in their respective homes or lanes while coming from opposite lanes
on the law college road. Crossing this road in morning & evening hours is
near impossible & more than that the pollution of lakhs of vehicle’s
exhausts cause, is one more problem this traffic creates! At the same time
thousands of senior citizens reside along this patch of road & for them
noise pollution by honking of the vehicles as well even to cross the road on
any hour of time is a big nuisance.
Well, now if you have read up to this part then you
will say what’s big deal about it as these are the issues which Pune is
experiencing all around so what’s so special about law college road & you
are not wrong but then that is Pune! To reduce the traffic on law college road
some ten years back local body (PMC) proposed a road from Symbiosis which cuts
through the hill range I mentioned above & connects to Paud Road which
practically run parallel to law college road but if law college road run from
foothills this road run through hilltop & that is the issue! As a road
right on top of hill is major threat to biodiversity of these hills is what
environmentalists (this term is used a bit liberally in Pune) are calming &
obviously political parties joined the war & within the political parties
there are parties which support the road & which opposed the roads &
finally the battle for future of the road known as Bal Bharati Road went to Hon
Supreme Court, this is subject of my sharing!
That way Pune is famous (read as infamous) for
challenging everything & every-time, especially when the issue is related
with city, may it be Metro route or River Development or Development Plan of
the city or BRTS (plz don’t ask for full form just google, as its extinct now)
& if in one way its sign of awareness then in other way it’s a mess on the
front of planning for the future of the city! I am not
taking any side or not saying don’t go to the court as its basic right of every
citizen but its failure of planning authority as well keeping all due respect
for the judicial system, it never takes into count the delay it makes to
deliver the justice & that delay ruins the city! And then again with due
respect Court can’t intervein more than certain limits in planning as it’s not
planning authority so, somewhere its failure of planning authorities of the
city (read as PMC, UD, Town Planning) which repeatedly fails to come up with a
solution (read as planning) which will be logical enough to satisfy most
segments of the city as even God can’t make happy all its devotees! And if you
are logically right with an execution track record of what you have planned in
the past then you must have legal authority to go through the project planned
& no such oppose must be made as an excuse for the delay & even the Hon
Courts also must expedite their rulings to save future of the city, is my
subject of sharing!
Coming back to Bal Bharti hill road, the issue
(read as was) going on for more than ten years & the work of the road has
been stalled for decade & in the meantime numbers of the vehicles on law
college road (read as in entire Pune) kept increasing in multiplying mode.
Finally, Hon Supreme Court has appointed a committee which is headed by a Sr
Forest Officer as well experts to examine & give their report about the
actual feasibility of the proposal. The committee has conducted their site visits
as well met with both the parties related to the conflict i.e. supports of this
road & opposers of the road & will submit its report in due course of
time. My point is, agreed, more roads won’t solve traffic problems
(environmentalists say) but then why build any roads in the first place! We
need roads & we need trees also & we need to protect the biodiversity
on the hills also as we want to reduce the traffic congestion on the law
college road & for that we must think for a solution which will try to
balance all these things & that’s not rocket science!
I have been travelling to the forests for many
years & for decades the road from Nagpur to Jabalpur which passes through
Pench forest was a nightmare for the commuters for its narrow width &
quality of surface. It used to take six to eight hours to complete this journey
& widening would have needed cutting of thousands of trees as well as
threat to wildlife crossing the highway! Indeed, trees were needed to cut
but plantation has been done along the road, the entire road has been barricaded
so that wild animals can come on the road & after regular intervals the
road surface has been lifted above the adjoining ground level making passageway
to wild animals to cross the road safely. This has been done some three years
back & today the travel distance has reduced to mere four hours saving
millions of man hours & fuel as well, road kills (death of wild animals
under vehicles) has actually reduced, & forest is also growing along the
road! If
we can find a solution & execute for a forest way outside of urban area,
why can’t we come up with a similar solution in city as developed as Pune, is
my point of sharing, but we are Punekars & we love discussions than
solutions & in that zest we are ruining future of our own city, is what we
are ignoring!!
At Bal Bharati Road also we can think of making the
road with planting all indigenous (desi) trees along both sides of the road
& making underpasses for humans as well wildlife to cross & only after
the growth of the trees is seen & verified by the experts then allow use of
this road! The entire stretch can be with railing as well green net-shade of 20
ft high (just a suggestion) & no exit to be given on road on some emergency
exits which will be gated properly from outside. I am not saying this is a
final solution but something of this sort can be worked out is my point. As
the environmentalists also should think of two aspects, by such approach no
development will be possible for the city & to make tunnels of that sort
has limitations of money from the city aspect & the vehicles which are
making air polluted on law college roads, those also are residents of this city
only! Agreed, trees are important & we are already witnessing the burnt by
rampant cutting of trees under the name of development yet stopping tree
cutting is also not a right solution. At
the same time, the govt (PMC, UD) should understand that just by building one
road the traffic issue may not be solved as strengthening public transport is
the only way for which efforts must be taken as just one Metro won’t solve the
entire city’s traffic issues! Road
based public transport (PMPML) along with infrastructure is missing in the city
& right from proper bus-stops to making new routes to increasing numbers of
busses many aspects are pending & that’s why when any such new road or
flyover is planned people oppose it pointing finger at the lacunas in public
transport! Another aspect is, plantation & survival of new trees as
agreed Pune has maximum numbers of gardens yet overall tree cover is getting
reduced is a fact & we must try to protect as many trees & for that we
can think of keeping distance in between the two lanes of this road & have
a tree path in between.
Last but not least, Punekars also need to change
their attitude towards transportation as no public transport can ever give you
door to door service & you must learn to walk a bit & have patience to
wait a bit while using public transport, absence of which is also one of the
main causes of ever-increasing numbers of private vehicles! A city is not the outcome of just Gardens or Road network
or IT parks or Education Institutes, a city is what its citizens live by!
Tomorrow the Supreme Court Committee may approve or reject the Bal Bharati Road
proposal but it’s our approach towards the city which only will decide our fate
& not some committee, mind it!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at
YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog links below to read
about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
/ https://junglebelles.in/
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