A protest by information technology employees, residents and local organisations in Hinjawadi on Sunday highlighted the continued delay in starting metro services between Hinjawadi and Shivajinagar, despite approval for operations on the route’s first 12 stations. The mobilisation also raised concerns about traffic congestion, roads, waste management and water supply in the rapidly expanding western Pune region.
The protest began at Infosys Circle in Hinjawadi’s Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park and proceeded via Shivaji Chowk before concluding at Infosys Circle. Participants included local residents, farmers, housing society representatives, IT employees and senior citizens. The demonstration was reported to have remained peaceful, with participants carrying placards and presenting demands related to transport and civic infrastructure.
The metro corridor is intended to connect Hinjawadi’s IT hub with Shivajinagar in central Pune. According to the report, the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety granted approval on July 23 for services to begin between the first 12 stations. The service has not yet started. The delay has led to public discussion about whether an inauguration schedule is holding up operations, although no official explanation from the responsible authorities was included in the report.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray joined the protest and criticised the delay and the condition of infrastructure in Hinjawadi. He said the area faced severe traffic congestion, dangerous potholes, accumulated waste, inadequate water supply and a metro line awaiting inauguration despite being completed. He also alleged that administrative confusion was affecting companies and putting the employment of young workers at risk. These claims were made during the protest and were not independently substantiated in the source report.
The mobilisation brought together several local and sectoral groups, including the Residents Welfare Association Maan, the Hinjawadi-Maan-Marunji Infra Forum, the Forum for IT Employees, the Hinjawadi Employees and Residents Trust, and cooperative housing federations from Pimpri-Chinchwad and Mulshi. Their participation connected the metro delay with a broader demand for coordinated administration in the Hinjawadi-Maan-Marunji area.
The protesters sought the early resolution of land acquisition issues affecting roads, the immediate launch of the Maan-Shivajinagar metro service and a joint meeting of government agencies chaired by the chief minister in Hinjawadi. Other demands included resolving congestion at the Wakad flyover, Bhumkar Chowk, Punawale and Tathawade, securing a two-thousand-million-cubic-foot water allocation from Mulshi Dam, doubling traffic police personnel and holding quarterly reviews chaired by the chief minister.
The protest has placed the delayed launch of the Hinjawadi-Shivajinagar Metro alongside the region’s wider infrastructure and governance concerns. The next publicly stated steps are the resolution of the protesters’ demands and clarification from the concerned authorities on the operational start date for the approved metro section.
