1 2 Pune: Over 20,000 residents of the Bopkhel village area have been waiting desperately for the last several years for a bridge over the Mula river , already constructed by PCMC , to be thrown open for their daily commute — pending what civic officials are calling "finishing touches". At present, these citizens are forced to take a detour of 16km or so via Vishrantwadi to access Khadki cantonment and move onwards into other city areas. One side of Bopkhel is lined by the Mula river; the rest is surrounded by lands of defence establishments like the College of Military Engineering (CME), which are off limits to residents.
However, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has still kept the inauguration date of the bridge — which residents dub a "lifeline" — quite vague. A section of officials from the civic body's engineering section told TOI this week that the work is "in its final phase". PCMC chief engineer Pramod Ombhase said, "We are completing vision barrier work on the bridge currently.
" However, he did not specify any date for the opening of the bridge to commuters. In a spot visit by TOI last week with civic engineering section officials, it was found that PCMC has installed a metal sheet on the hedge of the bridge's entire length — 1,856 metres — to block the top view into defence establishments. In its surroundings are located the Bombay Engineer Group (BEG) Centre, Ammunition Factory Khadki, and 512 Army Base Workshop, besides the CME.
The brid.