Shivane-Uttam Nagar road widening raises safety concerns due to unmoved feeder pillars

While the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has initiated road widening and cement-concretisation work in the Shivane-Uttam Nagar area to improve traffic flow, the effort has raised safety concerns as several feeder pillars of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) are left in the middle of the constructed road. This is a potential hazard for motorists, especially at night, and compromises the effectiveness of the road widening initiative.

Prabhakar Hande, deputy engineer of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) road department, said, “There is ongoing road widening and concretisation work along the stretch between Shinde Bridge and Ahire Gate. The MSEDCL had installed feeder pillars along the road based on the available road width. Now, as we widen the road after land acquisition, these pillars are ending up in the middle of the road. We have initiated road widening work and identified seven feeder pillars installed by the MSEDCL that are now obstructing the road due to the widening. We have already visited the site with MSEDCL officials and requested them to shift these feeder pillars,” Hande said.

“Shivane road is 30 metres wide as per the regional planning (RP) layout. However, we are unable to widen the road uniformly because of insufficient land acquisition. Currently, we are working on widening and concretising the road in patches, wherever land is available,” Hande said.

Manoj Dhabarde, superintending engineer of MSEDCL’s planning department, said, “We visited the sites with PMC officials. We will relocate the feeder pillars, but the PMC has not yet sent an official application. Once we receive the letter, we will arrange the funds and relocate the pillars. This will take around eight to 10 days after completing all the necessary procedures.”

“If the PMC had contacted us before starting the road concretisation, we could have arranged the funds and relocated the pillars without any issues. Now, we will need to break some of the concrete to move the feeder pillars,” Dhabarde said.

Danger of unmoved feeder pillars

The road-widening work spans a two-kilometre stretch between Shinde Bridge and Ahire Gate, a corridor plagued by regular traffic snarls. Within this stretch, multiple DP boxes are located that should have been shifted or relocated during the construction process. Instead, these boxes remain in their original positions, surrounded by newly laid concrete.

The decision to leave these feeder pillars untouched has serious safety implications. Fast-moving vehicles, particularly at night, might fail to notice the feeder pillars in time, leading to collisions. In such cases, not only would the vehicles be severely damaged, but there is also a high risk of electrocution from live wires within pillars. These risks have prompted a public outcry, with residents questioning the lack of foresight and planning by the contractor and municipal authorities.

Regular traffic congestion

Shivane and Uttam Nagar are known for persistent traffic congestion, with serpentine queues of vehicles during peak hours and even in the afternoons. The road-widening initiative was expected to bring much-needed relief to commuters. However, the unresolved issue of the DP boxes has overshadowed the benefits of the project. While the additional road space might reduce congestion to some extent, the presence of obstacles in the form of power boxes undermines the overall goal of ensuring smooth and safe traffic flow.

Citizens demand action

Sanjay Yelwad, a local resident of Shivane, said, “This is poor planning by the PMC and MSEDCL officials. Even when cleaning at home, we move objects out of the way first. Similarly, when widening a road, it is common sense to remove obstacles like these feeder pillars. Both the contractor and the PMC road department officials ignored this basic fact, creating a dangerous situation for residents.”

Kalpana Deshpande, a resident of Uttam Nagar, said, “Reducing traffic congestion is important, but it should not come at the cost of public safety. The feeder pillars in the middle of the road put lives at risk. They raise questions about the accountability of the contractor and PMC authorities.”