Adding to the agony of residents of Ghorpadi and adjoining areas, the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) on Monday decided to scrap the sites selected for setting up of two railway overbridges (ROBs).
The board decided that alternative locations would be identified and the matter taken up in its next meeting on October 10.
“It is a fact that the ROBs in that area are essential. But the projects cannot come up at the present sites due to different reasons like security of defence establishments in that locality, displacement of the people in the region and encroachment on defence land,” said the chief executive officer (CEO) of PCB, Rachel Koshy.
The project has been pending for several years. The two railway crossings which dissect Ghorpadi village are located on the Pune-Miraj and Pune-Solapur routes of the railways. The roads witness traffic congestion every day as the area links several important and growing suburbs such as Kalyaninagar, Mundhwa, Keshavnagar, BT Kawade Road, Koregaon Park, Magarpatta, Ahmednagar and Solapur roads.
Elected member of the PCB from Ghorpadi, Santosh Kawade, who raised the issue aggressively in the meeting, said the region being crowded due to both commercial and residential activities, a solution has to be found at the earliest.
“It has been more than three years that the matter has been hanging fire, increased people’s inconvenience. Now the PCB wants us to come up with an alternative site for the project. We will be planning the matter in the next board meeting for sure as the matter is sensitive,” said Kawade.
Other matters which were discussed at the meeting include the amendments to be made in the Cantonments Act, 2006. “After the performance of the Act on the ground, there are certain changes that the legislation requires. The elected members have been asked to come up with their suggestions by the second week of October,” Koshy said.
The PCB is going to hold an auction of permits for firecracker stalls at the Kakasaheb Gadgil playground in a week. “However, it is compulsory for bidders to carry a no objection certificate from the police to be eligible,” Koshy said.
