Pune: Hinjewadi Metro misses another deadline, IT leaders sound alarm

The Information Technology IT sector in Pune will have to wait over a year for the completion of Pune Metro Route 3 which connects Hinjewadi to Shivajinagar IT associations warn that this delay could lead to more migration of professionals from the cityThe Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority PMRDA has recently extended the deadline for Tata and Siemens to complete the HinjewadiShivajinagar Metro line until September Initially the deadline was set for March 2025 So far 85 per cent of the civil work has been completed on this 2333km elevated Metro line which aims to connect the IT hub of Hinjewadi with ShivajinagarIT employees speakPavanjit Mane president of the Road Forum of IT Employees said ldquoThe IT hub generates the maximum revenue for the government yet it has been neglected Hinjewadi has been facing traffic jams transport problems and poor road infrastructure for years Nearly six lakh employees work here and the Metro is urgently needed However the government did not prioritise this routerdquoHe added ldquoAdditionally there is no metro connectivity to the airport Everywhere else IT parks and airports are the first to get Metro connectivity but Punersquos Metro decisions seem politically driven rather than practicalrdquoDr Raghunath Kuchik former chairman of the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee said ldquoThe IT industry is already struggling with job cuts due to AI and other technologies Delaying the metro project which was supposed to be completed on priority shows poor management and planning This delay has already caused companies to migrate in the last five yearsrdquo he saidPune losing outDnyanendra Hulsure president of the Hinjawadi Employees and Residentsrsquo Association HEART said ldquoThe original deadline for the HinjewadiShivajinagar Metro was 2023 yet we are still struggling with basic transport Meanwhile states like Uttar Pradesh Telangana and Kerala are progressing Microsoft is expanding in Uttar Pradesh Google is growing in Hyderabad and Kerala has introduced an AI policy But what about MaharashtrardquoSteps and progresIn a recent meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and PMRDA Commissioner Dr Yogesh Mhase the state government approved handing over Raj Bhavan land for Metro station work The process of acquiring land from Modern College has also startedA PMRDA official said ldquoThe Pune Metro Line 3 project has made significant progress with 85 per cent of the work completed Finishing works at stations and entry structures are underway at 14 stations while signalling and telecommunication works are progressing at 12 stationsrdquo The official further added ldquoAll civil and systems work is expected to be completed by the end of this yearrdquoTraffic woesHinjewadi Indiarsquos top IT hub faces severe traffic congestion due to the high number of private vehicles and inadequate public transport Lakhs of vehicles enter the area daily while the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited PMPML runs only about 200 buses At peak hours more than 200 vehicles pass through Shivaji Chowk every minutemdashadding up to nearly 12000 vehicles per hour Employees say this leads to massive delays making it difficult to reach offices and homes on timeSamar Patel an IT employee said ldquoI have been working here for a decade Another IT park has developed in Baner which is on the same Metro route Authorities should take immediate action to complete the metro work A strong public transport system is crucial to solving these issuesrdquo