Heavy rains choke arterial roads, disrupt traffic in Pune

Sangamwadi junction

While the city was relieved to receive rainfall after a prolonged dry spell, the heavy showers choked major arterial roads and brought traffic to a halt last morning. To add to this, there were 20 tree collapse incidents reported in areas like Pune University Road, Mangaldas Road, Sinhagad Road, Model Colony and Yerawada, and 25 signals were non functional till late evening.

Bumper to bumper: Vehicles at Sangamwadi junction were moving at a snail's pace after signals in the area stopped functioning due to the downpour

Commuterspeak
Commuters had a tough time getting to their workplaces on time. Tanvir Ahmed, a resident of Aundh, said, "It took me 45 minutes to cover a distance of two kilometres towards Pune University junction, due to which I reached my office on J M Road late."

Kunal Chanda, a resident of Camp, said, "It was a nightmare, as the traffic signals were not working and there was utter chaos at Sangamwadi junction. It took me about an hour and a half to reach Pashan, which otherwise takes just 45 minutes."

Officialspeak
PMC's fire brigade chief, Prashant Ranpise, said, "In eight hours, from 12 midnight to 8 am yesterday, we received 25 calls regarding tree collapse incidents in different parts of the city. We swung into action and got the fallen trees out
of the way. By 12 noon, all the roads in the city were clear. Fortunately, there were no accidents reported due to these incidents."

The Traffic police department claims that adequate measures were taken to maintain smooth vehicular movement. Additional police constables were deployed to control the situation at major junctions.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare said, "As many as 25 traffic signals in the city were reported non-functional by 9 am. We alerted the technicians and asked them to get the signals repaired at the earliest. All 25 traffic signals were functional by 6 in the evening."