When will the Sancheti chowk subway get done?

The Sancheti Hospital chowk, an important junction where some of the major roads in the city meet, has become a traffic nightmare because of a massive subway project that has heavily reduced the useable space for vehicles and shows no signs of getting completed on time. The construction of the subway is getting delayed because of several technical reasons. To take a look at the traffic woes and explore the reasons for this at the indispensable junction which lakhs of motorists pass through every day, MiD DAY speaks to the traffic police, commuters and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials.

Tardy progress: Work on the subway at Sancheti Hospital junction is
u00a0going slow because of several technical reasons. Pics/Himanshu Dixit

The project
The Rs 22 crore project was approved last year and consists of building huge underground subways or 'grade separators' which will allow cars to pass through them, thereby reducing traffic on the surface. The entire project is funded under the Centre's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and Krishnae Constructions are the contractors for it. Police Inspector Vijay Palsule (Traffic Planning) said that the grade separators would improve the traffic situation on Shivaji Road, Wellesley bridge road and Ganeshkhind Road.
"Traffic flowing from Shimla Chowk to the Sessions Court will also improve," he said.

The current status of the work has already shown that the project will not be completed on time since the construction itself began on November instead of August last year. Shifting of underground utilities like water pipelines has been the main reason behind the delay in the project. "The first 10 metre concrete slab has been completed and laying of the 20 metre slab is yet to be done. Pipes are also being laid to allow rainwater to flow off the grade separators," said PMC Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Vinay Deshpande. Deshpande admitted that the project was being delayed because of shifting of underground utilities.

According to PMC officials, detection and relocation of water cables requires delicate handling. After detection, requisite approval from the water supply department has to be sought, after which shifting to an alternative spot which will not hamper the water supply has to be studied. Then, testing is done to see whether the newly laid pipelines are working without hindrance.u00a0 Deshpande said there are 24-inch pipelines which run in a criss-cross manner underground. "We have to make special joints and fixtures for the new pipes which are to be laid in place of the old ones. Some are old, whose replacement pipes with the same diameter cannot be found in the market," he said. Deshpande added that high court permission also had to be sought for cutting some trees near the Kala Niketan building as well as a piece of land for road widening.

The traffic chaos
Four major roads converge at the junction, namely University Road, Wellesley Road, which goes towards the Shivajinagar District Court, Junglee Maharaj Road and the Sancheti Bridge, which joins the Boat Club road and the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) near Sangam Bridge. Traffic constable Mahesh Kapre said the junction witnesses traffic jams during peak hours in the morning and evening.

"The main problem here is that Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses constantly break down here. On an average, two to three buses break down every afternoon which causes traffic snarls. In the last two months, 15 buses have broken down which then have to be towed away," said Kapre. Most importantly, state transport buses plying between the city and Mumbai use the University Road to go to Aundh and Pimpri-Chinchwad.u00a0

Dr Parag Sancheti, chairman of Sancheti Hospital, said that the hospital was facing a lot of problems in its operations because of the traffic at the junctions. "Patients have been delayed by as much as 20 minutes because ambulances could not reach on time. Specialist doctors, whom we invite for emergency operations, are also delayed since they have to take a long detour. We have written to the PMC about the same a fortnight ago," he said.u00a0

Voices
Whenever there is digging of roads, it is a nuisance. I don't know why they have closed the road opposite the court as the traffic used to flow smoothly when it was open. Now that they have closed it, traffic congestion is high because the Sancheti bridge is small. I avoid travelling during peak hours. But at the end of the day, the subway project is for a better tomorrowu00a0
-- Samantha Sirohi, PR consultant

I usually do not travel during peak hours because of which I face a little less problem than others. But even at noon or late in the evening, there is a traffic jam, mostly on the Sancheti Bridge. Cars, bikes, buses all travel on the same route, which is frustrating
--u00a0Archit Khandelwal

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