Survey backs pleas of builders’ lobby

NASHIK, Dec 15: A recent survey of vehicular traffic here by the Architects and Engineers Association has revealed that about 70 per cent o...

NASHIK, Dec 15: A recent survey of vehicular traffic here by the Architects and Engineers Association has revealed that about 70 per cent of the vehicle population is from other places and passes through Nashik. The findings have pleased local builders and developers, who have been demanding that the proposed Mumbai-Nashik expressway be re-aligned to avoid Nashik city.

The survey had been conducted on November 15 and 26 by the association and the College of Architecture run by the Maratha Vidhya Prasarak Samaj, Nashik, on the Mumbai-Agra national highway, the Nashik-Pune road, the Nashik-Aurangabad road, the Nashik-Peth road, the Nashik-Dindori road, the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar road, the Nashik-Girnare road and the Nashik Road-Deolali road. The findings are yet to be declared officially.

The survey has revealed that vehicles from other cities, passing through Nashik city or visiting it, inflate the traffic population. Over 70 per cent of the vehicles of the 38,500 enumerated on November 25 and 26 were from outside the city, it was found.

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Local builders and developers had earlier opposed the alignment of the proposed expressway through the city claiming that it would require hundreds of existing structures to be demolished and numerous proposed structures to be shelved indefinitely. The builder’s lobby met Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari in May and urged him to reconsider the proposed alignment of the expressway as it would pass through their properties. Gadkari was told that the proposed alignment was based on a very old survey conducted in 1994, without taking into consideration the new development plan of Nashik and its rapid urbanisation. At the time, Gadkari had promised to look into the matter. The builders urged him to divert the expressway to avoid their properties.

Divisional Revenue Commissioner Rahul Ashthana when contacted told The Indian Express that the government had appointed two land acquisition officers of the rank of deputy collectors and ten surveyors for the proposed expressway. He said that land acquisition was in progress in Igatpuri taluka and that the alignment of the expressway within Nashik city limits had not been finalised yet.

Incidentally, the state government has announced the laying of the 200 km expressway through private participation, at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore. The proposed route is based on a survey by Wilber Smith Associates Inc, USA in 1994. The proposed expressway is to be 100 metres wide with a 15 metre margin on either side.