Promises apart,Solapur Road still awaits widening

Pandharinath Mandhare,senior inspector,Hadapsar police,said,“Ravidarshan Square is one of the over-a-dozen accident-prone spots on Solapur Road. With Amanora Park coming up,population grew five times in 12 years but the road has been widened just once.”

A police officer with traffic branch said,“The existing flyover was to be longer. Its length was brought down without citing reasons. Work for the other flyover has been on. It has missed its deadline.”

Manoj Patil,deputy commissioner of police (Traffic),said,“Sudden convergence of a broad road into a narrower one near Ravidarshan Square slow down high-speed vehicles suddenly. When motorists fail to do so,collisions take place.” Mandhare said,“There is not a day without a jam. The area under the flyover is crowded with vendors,small shops and rickshaws. A number of commercial establishments have opened along the road without parking provisions. All the vehicles are parked along the road.”

Of the 5.2-km stretch,1.5 km comes under PMC and the rest under NHAI. Vivek Kharwadkar,additional city engineer with PMC,had said,“We feel widening is needed urgently. PMC is ready,but NHAI wants to do it.” V U Sawant,executive engineer,NHAI,said,“More than 75 per cent of the road is under NHAI. The widening has got sanction. The budgetary provisions may be made once Parliament session ends. The estimated expenditure is Rs 50 crore. It is difficult to comment on the time needed to complete the work.”