Pune divisional commissioner instructs to speed up ring road land acquisition

District officials were instructed by Pune divisional commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar on Thursday to expedite land acquisition for the proposed Pune ring road and not allow election-related delays.

Two phases of the land acquisition process are underway for the 169-kilometer Pune ring road, involving the acquisition of 1,813.26 hectares of private land in total. The western phase of the process is underway now.

The divisional commissioner stated on Thursday that the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) hopes to be able to appoint contractors to start infrastructure work by June, provided that the entire land acquisition process for both phases is completed.

According to Pulkundwar, they met with MSRDC’s managing director and vice-chairman, Anil Kumar Gaikwad, on Wednesday. MSRDC is eager for the project’s land to be turned over as soon as possible. The western phase is nearly finished, and the eastern phase’s land acquisition will proceed more quickly.

According to a senior official, the western phase’s land acquisition process is almost finished.

Of the 644 hectares total, 525 hectares have been acquired so far for the western phase. In order to acquire land for the eastern phase, officials said they have been up against resistance from the villagers at Chambali in Purandar and Shivre in Bhor. Rahul Vasaikar, an MSRDC engineer, stated that the deadline for submitting tenders is the first week of March, after which a decision on the contractor’s appointment will be made within a month.