Bal Bharati – Paud Road : Need to find out alternative routes to decongest roads in Pune

Pune: To ease traffic congestion on Law College Road, we have to find out alternative roads. However Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) proposed Balbharti-Paud road will not help to ease traffic on Law College Road said Dr Sunita Kale, alumna Gokhale Institute Pune.

Dr Sunita Kale, was speaking on ‘When PMC fails the Smell Test : The Curious Case of the Bal Bharti -Paud Road’ at Gokhale Institute on 4 February.  Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics is hosting a public lecture as a part of the seminar series at the Institute.

This lecture was organised because proposed Bal Bharti- Paud road is the best example to show why it is critical that we should be active residents, go beyond just voting every five years, engage with our civic authorities and understand where exactly governance is failing us.As a economists, students are trained to put data under scrutiny, this is also  a lesson in how to (and how not to) write reports as consultants. 

According to Kale, to decongest the traffic in the city, many flyovers are being constructed across the city. However, the actual usages of these bridges is a matter of study now. In addition to that study of proposed Balbharti-Paud road was done in unscientific way, in fact to study such proposals survey,report and data is also not correct.Hence considering environmental impact many geologist raised their concerned over this proposed project. 

Kale further alleged that this proposed road will not only increase environmental issues but also will not solve traffic issues as well. We have to make people more aware about such projects so that people should come together against such projects to avoid the impact of the  project.