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 their repairs as these roads were yet to be handed over to the civic administration.
“Many highway stretches under civic limits are long. The administration has carried out the repairs wherever possible. However, patching every pothole on the highway stretches is a tough ask.
The civic administration has urged authorities like Cantonment, NHAI and PWD to hand over these roads to us, but that hasn’t happened yet,” said senior PMC official Sahebrao Dandge. According to the PWD, the department had initiated the process of handing over the roads to the two civic bodies in 2017 for their maintenance and repairs. The declassification of the stretches and handing them over to the local governing bodies have been completed after the directives of state govt, as well as the demand from PMC.
Senior PWD official Surendra Katkar said, “Almost all the roads have been handed over to the civic administrations a few years back. So, they should ensure their maintenance. If any stretch has yet to be handed over to them, it will also be given to the civic bodies.
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