Ajay Sujay Hanje, Pune
Under the direction of the District Collector, a high-level meeting was organized to go through the project’s plans for acquiring land for the ring road. The District Officer, the Land Acquisition Officer, and representatives from MSRDC were present. To avoid project delays, it was decided that police aid would be called if necessary.
The western leg of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) – led ring road project will need the forced acquisition of land in 13 villages spread over the Maval, Mulshi, and Haveli talukas. This decision was made by the Pune district administration. Dr. Rajesh Deshmukh, and the District Collector, who presided over the meeting when the decision was taken.
To reduce traffic congestion in the cities of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, MSRDC has taken on the building of a 172 km long by 110 m wide ring road. There will be two phases to the project’s execution: East and West. Maval, Khed, Haveli, Purandar, and Bhor villages will be impacted by the eastern section, whereas Bhor, Haveli, Mulshi, and Haveli villages will be impacted by the western side.
On July 5, letters were given to the communities that would be affected by the land acquisition procedure, and a deadline for agreement was set on July 30. The deadline was extended to August 21st in response to the locals’ objections about the land evaluation, and a 25% bonus was provided for prompt consent.
Locals from 13 villages – six in the Maval taluka, three in the Mulshi taluka, and four in the Haveli taluka, have not provided their agreement despite the deadline being extended. As a result, the administration has decided to issue final notifications to forcibly acquire their land.
To improve communication in the city and its surrounding areas, the Pune Ring Road was first conceived in 2007. The project had been placed on hold due to a lack of funds, though. The 173-km-long Ring Road project received funding totaling Rs 26,831 crores from the Maharashtra government in September 2021, which included land acquisition and construction expenditures. And now the project has resumed.