Pune Ring Road crawls ahead

The proposal for the Pune ring road project will be submitted to chief minister Ashok Chavan for final ratification within the next 10 days, said district guardian minister Ajit Pawar, after attending a meeting on Saturday to finalise the proposal draft. “The final draft of the proposal will be discussed with the chief minister during a meeting scheduled to finalise the proposal of pilgrimage package for Pandharpur-Alandi-Dehu-Bhandara hill. The meeting is likely to be held sometimes next week,” said Pawar. Pawar said the ring road project was stuck because of some hurdles. A meeting was called on Saturday to resolve the issues so that the project gets a go ahead. Officials of various departments including town planning, district administration and the civic bodies, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, were present at the meeting. Pawar said: “Major issues like land acquisition, width of the road and its map were discussed and resolved during the meeting. The discussions were also held on the viability of 100 metre ring road and the land acquisition procedure.” He added that the estimated cost of the project will be from Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore. A major part of project will comprise acquisition of land. The procedure for it will be conducted under the urgency clause for speedy completion. “I am hopeful that major part of the project will be completed within three years after final ratification. We are planning to start the work immediately after the final nod,” Pawar said. Considering the projected expansion of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the ring road will play major role in mobilising the traffic.