Building Pune: 28 years, Rs 21 crore; what it took for PMC to acquire land for widening busy Katraj junction

“The acquisition of land at Katraj was essential for widening the junction and connecting it to a 60-meter wide road. This process had been pending for 28 years because the landowners were demanding higher cash compensation and had taken the matter to court. Recently, the owners were compensated with Rs 21 crore for a 3,968 square metre plot of land,” said Annirudha Pawaskar, head of the civic road department.

Ongoing cleaning work of land acquired by PMC for widening of Katraj junction. (Express Photo)

He said the acquisition of the land will facilitate the widening of the Katraj junction, addressing traffic issues and ensuring a smoother vehicular flow on the Katraj-Kondhwa road. He added that the civic administration has promptly initiated the development and widening of the junction. However, its completion will take time since it requires concrete roads to accommodate the heavy traffic that passes through the junction.

The widening of the Katraj junction is putting additional pressure on the long-delayed expansion of the Katraj-Kondhwa road, which spans 3.43 km and measures 84 meters wide. Work on the Rs 150-crore project, which began in 2018, has been stalled due to land acquisition issues, leading to a revised completion date of March 2026.

The state government has pledged financial assistance of Rs 139 crore for land acquisition and has requested an additional Rs 231 crore from the state government in December of last year for the road’s development. The project includes the widening and concretization of the road, the construction of two grade separators, four bridges, and one pedestrian underpass. Currently, only 1 km, or 35 per cent of the project, has been completed.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is currently constructing a flyover at the junction to ensure a smooth flow of traffic from the Mumbai-Satara bypass to the Pune-Solapur highway via Katraj-Kondhwa road. Also, the Pune Metro is working on developing a rail service that will reach Katraj junction through an underground route from Swargate.