PUNE, INDIA (Metro Rail News): Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the much-delayed Pune Metro project on December 18, 2016. However, the project has encountered a few roadblocks while attempting to travel its many paths since then. As the December 2021 deadline approaches, the two metro lines are still not finished after five years.
Covid-imposed limitations, which resulted in a major departure of workers, caused the work to be delayed, according to officials. The project has been on and off the rails several times, due to a variety of issues ranging from political wrangling among parties to land acquisition issues.
The work at Sambhaji bridge, commonly known as Lakdi Pul, has been halted, adding to the growing list of roadblocks. The Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Shiv Sena, the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, have opposed the height of the viaduct at Lakdi pul because it will hinder Ganesh’s emersion process.
“The of Sambhaji bridge is five-and-a-half meters, which is the same along Karve Road,” Maha-Metro (Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited) executive director Atul Gadgil said. The level of all PMC flyovers is also the same. We’ve requested police protection so that we can resume work on the viaduct at Sambhaji Bridge in Deccan. Vanaz to Ramwadi and Pimpri-Chinchwad to Swargate are the two metro routes being built by Maha-Metro.
The first roadblock was deciding whether to build an elevated or underground metro; it wasn’t until union minister Nitin Gadkari got involved that the authorities decided on an elevated metro. Another stumbling block was the Pataleshwar caves on JM road; despite calls for it to be built parallel to the city, the metro was diverted from Karve Road to riverfront road instead of JM road.
The project was later contested before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), but it was ultimately approved. The metro route was challenged again at Aga Khan Palace, and the court-ordered Maha-Metro to amend the route because it was a monument. The corridor was subsequently changed to Kalyaninagar. At Kamgar Putala and Budhear Peth, there was also a dispute over land acquisition.
