16 January,2014 04:21 AM IST | | Dheeraj Bengrut
Absence of two bus stops -- one each on Nagar Road and Alandi Road -- has prevented the 16-km-long Vishrantwadi to Kharadi stretch from being thrown open for public use
Services to resume shortly: The incomplete bus stop on Alandi Road near Sathe Biscuit Shop. Pic/Krunal Gosavi.
The 16-km-long Vishrantwadi to Kharadi BRTS stretch has once again hit an impasse, this time due to absence of the last two bus stops on this stretch - one each on Nagar Road and Alandi Road.
Services to resume shortly: The incomplete bus stop on Alandi Road near Sathe Biscuit Shop. Pic/Krunal Gosavi.
As per the plan chalked out by the PMC, the stretch was supposed to have 22 bus stops - 14 on Nagar Road and eight on Alandi Road. A stop at Tata Guard Room Chowk in Chandan Nagar and another one near Sathe Biscuit Shop are the two stops that are yet to be built. Unless these two stops are constructed, bus services on the BRTS route cannot be thrown open for public.
Commenting on the issue, PMC Superintending Engineer (Roads) Namdev Barapatre said, "Yes, both these bus stations are yet to be built. But almost 90 per cent infrastructure work of this corridor has been completed. In the case of bus stop on Alandi Road, residents opposed the construction and vandalised the structure after the work commenced in September 2012. We are now thinking of seeking police help to resume restart."
Sources claimed the primary reason for the vandalism was the presence of hawkers in the area, who would be required to shift shops to make way for the bus stop.
"The work on the Nagar Road bus stop hasn't commenced yet because the area falls under military," he said. "In this chowk, we recently got a space of 300 metres from the military authorities and have started road development work. Staring next month, we'll start constructing the bus stop." Barapatre told that it would hardly take a fortnight for the civic body to build the bus stop despite the fact that the PMC took almost two years to construct the other 20 stops.
Officialspeak
PMPML spokesperson Deepak Pardeshi said, "The infrastructural work of BRTS is not in our hand, and we'll start the bus service the moment PMC tells us to do so. We'll need to start it immediately because the project has already been delayed."
Rs 27cr: Cost of the 16-kilometre BRTS stretch
The project
The PMC had identified four potential BRTS corridors (68 km) - Warje to Kharadi (22 km), Kothrud Depot to Vishrantwadi (17 km), Dhayari to Hadapsar Gadital (17 km) and Kalewadi Phata to Katraj (17.5 km). During the phase I, construction work of the 16-km-long stretch on Sangamwadi Road, Alandi Road and Nagar Road began in September 2012. The idea was to start the initial work on the outskirts of the city, as the roads here are wider. The ongoing work has failed to meet the November 25, 2013 deadline given by the PMC.
