Pune: Residents and employees of Hinjewadi Maan , home to Maharashtra’s largest IT Park, are protesting the poor infrastructure in the area in a way that is apt for their professional lives. They have started sending several emails about critical issues they face, like the inferior quality of roads, severe traffic congestion, and lack of basic amenities, which affect over 3 lakh professionals and over 1 lakh residents. Till date, they have written to various authorities, including the Pune district collector, MIDC, MLA, MP, and other govt officers but no one has paid any heed to their plight.
Pavanjeet Mane, working president of the Forum for IT Employees (FITE) urged the local bodies and ministers to travel on the roads to understand the gravity of the situation. “The streets are non-motorable. We have been following up with authorities for a long time but there has been no positive response.
This is an important tech hub in the entire country and we are forced to beg for decent roads,” Mane said. With multiple townships mushrooming in the area, the population in the tech park grew multifold, but the facilities did not. Apart from these issues, the people have put forth requests such as merging Hinjewadi IT Park and nine villages into a municipal corporation, prioritizing a comprehensive development plan, deploying a full-time task force for encroachment removal, and increasing police presence.
While traffic and potholes have always been an issue in the area due to unplanned infrastructure and confusion over jurisdiction, the ongoing Metro work has compounded the problems. “Every road leading to or within Hinjewadi is a mess. Multiple authorities have jurisdiction in the area, resulting in nobody taking responsibility to solve the issues,” said Ravindra Sinha, a member of the Hinjewadi Residents Welfare Association (HIRWA).
“We are also planning to meet the chief minister as local authorities have failed to solve our problems,” Sinha added. Dnyanendra Hulsure, president of the Hinjewadi Employees and Residents Trust (HEART), expressed frustration. “We need a single authority responsible for the entire area.
This would eliminate the blame game and force action,” he said. Hulsure said the issues are aggravated because different govt authorities have control over roads in the area. Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Vishal Gaikwad of Pimpri Chinchwad police highlighted that poor road conditions and potholes are significant contributors to traffic congestion in the Hinjewadi area.
“Last month, the traffic branch sent a request to the PWD to address the potholes in Hinjewadi,” he said. He said many daily commuters in Hinjewadi do not adhere to traffic rules, adding to the problem..
