Pune police give PMC list of 35 problem spots on route to be taken by PM Modi on Sep. 26

The Pune city police on Monday gave the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) a list of 35 problem spots involving under-construction patches of roads, broken drainages and dysfunctional streetlights on the route that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to take to attend two programmes in Pune on September 26. The police have requested the civic body to carry out repairs at these spots ahead of the PM’s visit.

Additional commissioner of police (CP) Manoj Patil who is handling city traffic management during the PM’s visit, said, “We have given a list of 35 problem spots on the PM’s route to the PMC where anomalies have been observed. Besides, we have requested the civic body to carry out repairs and correction of those anomalies ahead of the PM’s visit.” Patil said that details of the exact spots cannot be shared in view of the PM’s security.

PMC road department chief Aniruddha Pawaskar said, “We have begun repair work as directed by the Pune police and all roadworks like patchwork, resurfacing and removal of speed breakers is being carried out on a war footing to be completed before the PM’s arrival in the city.”

The PM is scheduled to inaugurate the new underground metro corridor from Civil Court to Swargate on September 26 and lay the foundation stone of an elevated route. He is also slated to lay the foundation stone of several other key projects including the much-anticipated memorial at Bhide Wada where Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule founded India’s first school for girls.

When President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Pune earlier on September 2 for a two-day visit, she encountered potholes after which her office issued a letter to the Pune police and PMC commissioner, expressing dissatisfaction and demanding immediate action. The President’s office highlighted the urgency of repairing the potholes before the PM’s visit on September 26.

Prominent social activist and director of the Wagholi Housing Societies Association, Sanjeev Patil, lambasted the PMC for its inept road construction work saying, “We have been raising the issue of road and pothole repairs for the past so many years but the civic body has failed to address the problems of common citizens. Despite getting a rap on its knuckles from the President’s office, the PMC has not changed its style of functioning. That a top constitutional authority is raising the issue of potholes with the Pune police shows that the PMC has abdicated its responsibility of maintaining roads due to which not only the common man but also very important persons (VIPs) are suffering,” he said.