Pune Commuters Raise Alarm Over Dimly Lit Roads Around Metro Stations

Commuters in Pune are troubled due to poor lighting near the metro stations. This poses a major risk, especially during night hours and heavy rain, when visibility drops.

Sunil Ghadge, an IT employee and resident of Bund Garden, said, "My office is in Kharadi and I have a night shift. I commute by two-wheeler, and the entire stretch from Bund Garden to Kharadi is poorly lit, and it becomes difficult to ride as the visibility is low. And that's probably one of the main reasons why most of the road accidents happen in the dark or in the wee hours. Pune is developing at a fast pace, and now it has a metro, but still all these roads are dim."

Shivani Chavan, a college student, said, "The visibility of street lights on the stretch under the metro line is very poor. Lighting is better near stations like Garware College, Nal Stop and Vanaz, and also at Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC); the rest of the stations remain poorly lit."

A social media user, Amit Paranjape, highlighted the issue on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, "#PuneMetro Poor, non-existent street lighting underneath many metro stations... Whose responsibility is it? @PMCPune or @metrorailpune Either way - this needs to be fixed urgently! cc @SidShirole @mohol_murlidhar @navalMH"

Meanwhile, Manisha Shekatkar, chief superintendent engineer of PMC's electrical department, told FPJ, "We have received various complaints regarding the low visibility of street lights, mainly from Gunjan Chowk to Wagholi, and in the opposite direction on the Pune-Ahilyanagar Road. I have instructed my team to conduct a thorough inspection of the entire stretch. And we have also observed that there are very few electric poles underneath the metro stations, and very soon we will be installing more lights."

Hemant Sonawane, Executive Director (Administration and Public Relations), said, "If you enter any metro station, there's no dim light, not at the stairs or near the elevators. And erecting electric poles is the job of the PMC. If there's poor visibility on the road, we don't have the mandate to install lights there; it's the job of PMC to look into the matter."