As the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is set to float the tender for the proposed Bal Bharti Paud Phata (BBPP) Link road amidst the opposition from residents and activists, BJP's Shivaji Nagar MLA Siddharth Shirole, former mayor Murlidhar Mohol along with senior PMC officials joined the walk on the route on Tuesday.
They were accompanied by the HoD of Pune Municipal Corporation's Road Department, senior officials of the civic body, ex-councillor Madhuri Sahasrabuddhe and other BJP leaders.
Shirole said that they were joined by citizens from both sides of the debate, who provided a diverse range of views and inputs. He added that the questions, problems, and alternative solutions related to the proposed BBPP Link Road were discussed.
The environmental activists in the city have been opposing this project since it was first proposed in 1987. For the uninitiated, Vetal Tekdi is a prominent hill in the city limits of Pune. The hill is the highest point within the city limits and one of the few virgin forests in the city. The administration has maintained that the proposed road will decrease traffic pressure in Nal Stop Chowk. At present, passengers travelling from Senapati Bapat road towards Paud road have to use Law college road, which often witnesses traffic congestion during peak hours.
Sumita Kale, co-founder, of Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti also participated in the walk and tweeted, "My biggest achievement today was discovering that PMC Road department has a different concept of "hill", so we climbed up to where the pillars are supposed to come..reluctantly they accepted this spot and others ahead as "hill slope"!"
While resident Prajakta Divekar wrote on Twitter that Vetal Tekdi Bachao Kruti Samiti representatives and residents joined the walk and PMC’s Nikhil Mijar told citizens that the road is not from tekdi because hill slope is not tekdi.
