Mysterious tunnels dated to British era found in Pune

Pic courtesy/Chaitraly Deshmukh

The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha-Metro) found two mysterious tunnels on March 26 at Swargate in Pune while carrying out its underground work for laying the metro rail line. On Thursday, it was revealed that the tunnel is more than a century old and was built by the Britishers for water management. The spot was inspected and two channels were found to be 57 metres in length, six feet in height and closed at both ends. It was assumed that the tunnels must have been a water treatment plant built by the British governing agencies.

After the tunnels were discovered, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) along with a historical expert visited the site due to which the work was stopped for some time. However after a through references of the documents and thesis from the government, the ASI has given no objection notice.

Vilas Vahane, the assistant Director of ASI told mid-day, "Our team inspected the site and discovered the Regional Plan for Pune Metropolitan Region document which consisted references of the tunnels by the Pune Metropolitan regional planning board. The tunnels belong to the British era between 1908 to 1915 and are around 109 years old. Such a reference is found in Chapter VIII of the book of the Public Utility Service on water supply."

The PRO of Maha-Metro said that they have received a NOC regarding the construction and the work has not been affected.

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