Pune” Bombay High Court Directs PMC To Fast-Track Land Acquisition, Open Wakad-Balewadi Bridge After Decade-Long Delay
Pune" Bombay High Court Directs PMC To Fast-Track Land Acquisition, Open Wakad-Balewadi Bridge After Decade-Long Delay
Despite being completed in 2018-19 at a cost of ₹31 crore, the Wakad-Balewadi bridge remains unused due to pending land acquisition. The Bombay High Court has now ordered PMC to expedite the process following a PIL, aiming to ease severe traffic woes faced by over 2.5 lakh residents daily.
The matter was heard on 09.04.2025 and the order was uploaded on 15.04.2025 by the bench headed by Chief Justice Mr. Alok Aradhe and Justice M. S. Karnik. The High Court took note of the grievance of the residents raised in the PIL and has directed the PMC and other respondents for immediate and expedited action for land acquisition and opening of the bridge.
Adv. Satya Muley who represented the Petitioners in the PIL argued that the The neighbourhoods of Baner and Balewadi in Pune Municipal Corporation are separated from neighbourhood of Wakad, Kaspate Vasti etc in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation by Mula River. Since past 2 decades both the neighbourhoods have grown exponentially in population, construction, and commercial development.
Many people reside in Wakad and work in Baner, Balewadi & Vice-versa and are now dependent only on a very long and far away route which makes them pass through Mumbai-Bangalore Highway. A bridge over the Mula river connecting the Balewadi, Baner and Wakad was sanctioned jointly by the PMC & PCMC in year 2013.
TRAFFIC JAMS IN BALEWADI – BANER – WAKAD
Adv. Satya Muley also argued that the situation is worsening for the residents of the area by everyday passing as the traffic is increasing, there are huge bottlenecks on roads and the opening of the said bridge is bound to solve a lot of traffic jams in the region, shorten travel time and save precious fuel and time. Although there has been rapid urbanization in the region of Balewadi, Baner and Wakad, the residents of the densely populated region are forced to remain dependent on alternative unviable 2 options. One option being the heavily used Mumbai Bangalore Highway. There is only 1 access to the said highway from the side of Balewadi and Baner At Radha Chowk, which is most of the time congested and forces the people to travel an excess distance of over 5 to 6 kilometers. And due to traffic congestion, several times the extra travel time consumed is over 40 minutes to 1 hour leading to waste of precious fuel and time of the affected population. A huge population stays in Wakad and works in Balewadi, Baner region and vice versa. The other option available to the population is again from a completely another neighborhood on the far eastern side from Vishal Nagar.
INACTION ON PART OF PMC and THEIR SUBMISSIONS IN BOMBAY HIGH COURT.
The PMC finally submitted that the Corporation has made provision of 25 Crore for land acquisition and a proposal dated 24.02.2025 has also been approved by the Standing Committee (Through the Administrator) vide resolution no 2050 dated 20.03.2025. Adv. Satya Muley stated that interestingly these actions have been expedited by the PMC considering the recent hearings of the PIL at Bombay High Court.
PROPOSAL APPROVED BY THE GENERAL BODY ON THE SAME DAY. Considering the urgency due to hearings at the Bombay High Court, the General Body (Through Administrator) approved the proposal on the same day, and a resolution no 513 was passed on the same day, that is on 20.03.2025. The proposal, the resolutions etc. have now been forwarded to the land acquisition department for further action. Considering the above, the Bombay High Court Bench headed by the Chief Justice directed the PMC and other respondents for immediate and expedited action for land acquisition and opening of the bridge.
THE BRIDGE WITHOUT ANY CONNECTIVITY! :
The said Bridge is constructed with a long delay and ready in the year 2018-19 with an estimated expenditure of over 31 Crores INR. However, the bridge has not yet been put to public use till date. The Balewadi side of the Bridge does not have connectivity to existing roads. The issue is affecting over 250,000 residents of the region and residents of the Pune district. It is also unnecessarily increasing the load on the Mumbai-Bangalore Highway, putting the lives of travellers at risk, and heavy wastage of time and fuel.
BIG WIN OF CITIZENS THROUGH A PIL:
Abhijit Garad a resident of Wakad and Sandeep Mandloi a resident of Balewadi had taken the initiative to contact the authorities since a long time but there is no concrete response or solution in sight. Therefore, they had approached the Bombay High Court and filed Public Interest Litigation at Bombay High court through Adv Satya Muley. Abhijit Garad stays at Wakad and works at Balewadi and several thousand such people travel from Wakad, Kaspate Wasti to Balewadi and vice versa for work or other purposes. They are forced to spend an extra 40 minutes to an hour and excess fuel for taking a long journey from Mumbai Bangalore Highway. Had the Bridge been functional over 250,000 residents of the regions would not have faced daily hardships.
Petitioner’s Say :
“I really appreciate hon’ble court for taking serious cognizance of PMC’s failures to plan adequately and delay in land acquisition for the bridge on the Mula river that has been lying unused and abandoned for many years despite spending crores of public money since it was constructed as a commute link between Wakad and Balewadi,” said Abhijit Garad, Resident of Wakad.
“Most awaited decision by Hon Court. It will bring huge relief to residents of west Pune. It will reduce commute time for everyone. Hopefully acquisition happens soon without any further delay and Balewadi Wakad Hinjewadi link road opens soon for public,” said Sandeep Mandloi, a resident of Balewadi.
Advocate Satya Muley On behalf of the Petitioners, stated “The PMC avoided the action on various flimsy grounds. However, now the Bombay High Court has given very strong directives to the PMC to acquire the land and open the bridge in an expedited manner. PMC has filed an affidavit stating they have allocated 25 Crores for the acquisition. If we do not see the bridge opening in near future, we shall move the Bombay High Court again in 6 months’ time to pull up the PMC. It is an utter waste of Public money to construct the bridge and not open it to public use.”
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