Traffic dept steps on the gas with pay-and-park proposal

In a bid to solve traffic woes in the vicinity of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH) and Karve Road area, the city's traffic police department has submitted a proposal to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to start a pay-and-park scheme on the 100-feet wide DP Road stretch from Mhatre bridge to Rajaram bridge.

This stretch is notorious for its traffic snarls and has around eight wedding halls and lawns apart from many restaurants, which results in major traffic jams every day. The gridlock in this area affects the flow of traffic in and around DMH, Karvenagar and Karve Road.

Reducing congestion: The city's traffic department is asking the civic body to to start a pay-and-park scheme on the 100-ft-wide DP Road stretch from Mhatre bridge to Rajaram bridge, as motorists randomly park their vehicles here, which obstructs traffic movement. File pic

Traffic officials said that lack of parking arrangements and other infrastructure had made it a nightmare to manage the traffic at the spot. To get a firsthand view of the situation, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare, PMC's Assistant Commissioner Madhav Jagtap, other officials and some concerned citizens visited the spot yesterday to find a solution to the traffic issues.

After taking stock of the traffic congestion, Pandhare said, "We have proposed to the PMC to construct a divider, raised pedestrian crossings and also paint the lanes and angular parking blocks on the roadside. Besides this, the footpath levels need to be rectified and sufficient number of streetlights need to be installed along the stretch."

"The carriage width of the road reduces to half due to indiscriminate and double parking of vehicles. We have asked the lawns and hall owners to make independent parking arrangements while organising any function on their premises. Also they should not allow the concerned persons to burst crackers on the road, as it inconveniences citizens residing in the area," Pandhareadded.

Police Inspector (planning) Rajendra Kamire said, "We have proposed the creation of three median punctures, or divider breaks in front of Gharkul Lawns, Siddhi Garden and Krushnasundar Lawns for the convenience of commuters. Pedestrian crossings have been proposed at four other places, including the start of Mhatre Bridge and the road which leads to Tathawade Park."

Special drive nets traffic cops Rs 50,000 in a day
Around 500 private and over 15 government vehicles that entered the reserved Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes for city buses onthe Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar stretch were taken to task in a special discipline drive yesterday. Traffic police fined the drivers and owners of these vehicles and collected more than Rs 50,000 in a single day. The drive was initiated against the backdrop of the recent fatal accidents on the BRT stretches.u00a0Vehicles other than city buses are not allowed to ply in the BRT lanes, which is a project implemented to promote the use of public transport and discourage the use of private vehicles. DCP (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare said, "We have deputed six officers and 40 traffic personnel to conduct this special drive which will continue this week. We appeal to citizens to refrain from using the BRT lanes and follow traffic rules."