Pune's NIBM Road residents demand better civic amenities

When political parties and aspiring corporators approach residents of NIBM Road for their votes during the civic polls in early 2012, they are likely to be reminded about the rampant encroachment in the entire NIBM Road area, lack of public amenities and unsatisfactory garbage management that has been bothering the residents.

Major roads that connect the locality to Mohammedwadi and Undri — and are the only links to these areas — are clogged with hawkers after 6 pm, making traffic snarls a common occurrence.

Hawkers spill their stalls and wares on to footpaths, making it impossible for pedestrians, including senior citizens, to take an evening stroll.

They also spread filth in their adjoining areas, which invariably lands up in the NIBM nala. The forum has proposed a site to the PMC for a hawkers’ zone, which has not been received with much enthusiasm.

“There is an urgent need for a hawkers’ zone in the NIBM Road area,” said R Subramanyam, a member of the NIBM Road Residents Forum (mohalla committee). Subramanyam was attacked in 2007 by hawkers in the area after he got the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to undertake an anti-encroachment drive in the locality.

Residents and citizen-activists from the area are also severely opposed to the mushrooming of stalls in the reserved forest area near Brahma Majestic Society on NIBM Road. They lament the inaction by the civic body in helping preserve the green cover, even though many representations have been made.

Encroachment on roads by eateries near the telephone exchange — they have covered designated parking areas for outdoor seating — is also resulting in a traffic problem that is only bound to aggravate by the day.

Residents are also concerned about unauthorised use of open plots in the vicinity, which are used as parking zones for cabs, dumping garbage and rubble and have become haunts for anti-social elements.

A serious concern relates to the nala flowing through the National Institute of Banking Management, which joins Bhairoba nala downstream and is dumped with garbage, plastic and even animal carcasses. The stink from the nala is all-pervading.

During a recce of the area, the mohalla committee pointed out to many housing societies on NIBM Road that dumped their garbage into the nala flowing along their boundary wall. “Despite the ward office imposing fines on societies, they continue to dump garbage into the nala. The PMC must take a holistic view of the matter and penalise them for not segregating their garbage, apart from imposing fines for dumping in the nala,” said Sushil Kumar, a member of the Residents Forum.

Recognised as the hottest real estate investment destination in south-east Pune, this locality urgently needs basic public conveniences such as gardens, footpaths and zebra crossings, bus stops and speed-breakers.

The locality lacks a garden or jogger’s park and the residents’ forum, over the past few years, has made several attempts to get the PMC to develop open and vacant plots of land for the purpose.

The plots suggested by the citizen-activists from the area are reserved garden plots, belonging to the Guru Nanak Society and Sahayadri Society.

“Even though several representations have been made to the garden department of PMC, we are yet to see any effort towards providing a much-needed park or garden for senior citizens and children in the area,” Kumar said.

Similarly, the Residents Forum has been demanding basic conveniences such as footpaths and zebra crossings for pedestrians, but none of their requests have been adhered to despite repeated written and verbal requests to all departments concerned.

“The road from NIBM towards Undri is in urgent need of footpaths as it is a long and dangerous road. But no provision is being made as the PMC is unable to get sanction from the forest department that owns the land on both sides of the road,” informed Vijay Mainkar, another member of the forum.

Area residents have been repeatedly demanding the shifting of a bus stop at the Salunke Vihar Road junction towards Oxford Village as it is right at the mouth of a heavily congested single-width lane. The residents also want a bus stop near Brahma Majestic Society on NIBM Road.

On the stretch of road from Cloud 9 Housing Society till NIBM junction, vehicles move at breakneck speed as it is a steep slope without speed-breakers. The mohalla committee members want speed breakers to be constructed on the stretch to avoid accidents that have taken place many times in the recent past.