Pune: Jurisdiction muddle has held up repair works on the 15 highways’ stretches passing through the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal limits, leaving the commuters in dire straits. According to officials of the two civic bodies, the onus of the stretches’ repairs lies with the public works department (PWD), officials of which pin the responsibility of their upkeep on PMC and PCMC as they pass via their limits. The only catch here is that the PWD has yet to pass on the ownership of these highways’ stretches to the two local governing bodies.
IT professional Mahesh Sonawane of Hadapsar said the road near Laxminagar was in deplorable condition, causing huge traffic jams on Pune-Solapur highway and nearby areas like Shewalwadi. He had raised the complaint about the road condition around two weeks back and took a follow-up too, but all in vain. “As a taxpayer, my basic demand is good quality roads.
Any authority responsible for the repairs should initiate the works without further delay. Citizens should not be made to run from one authority to another for raising complaints and wait for the solution,” he said. Tushar Deshpande, an entrepreneur and regular commuter on highways, said the entry-exit points to and from Pune city were very troublesome.
“Driving on the highway stretches is a task owing to poorly maintained roads. We are paying heavy toll tax and deserve better roads,” Deshpande said. Civic officials said PMC was finding it difficult to allot funds for t.