Pune | September 11, 2026
The death of a schoolgirl in a road accident on Pune’s Katraj-Kondhwa Road has triggered protests by municipal councillors and renewed questions over the delayed completion and safety management of the major city route.
The issue was raised at the start of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s general body meeting, where councillors from the Congress, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) demanded action against officials they said were responsible for the circumstances surrounding the accident.
The councillors called for justice for the girl and sought to know whether action would be taken against the officials concerned. The protests were directed at the municipal administration during the meeting, according to a report by Loksatta – Pune.
Councillor Arvind Shinde alleged that 21 people had so far died in accidents on the Katraj-Kondhwa Road. He linked the latest fatality to the continued presence of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited poles along the route, saying the poles had not yet been removed.
The report also said that the road project, despite an expenditure of ₹150 crore, remained incomplete. Shinde questioned when the administration would accept responsibility for the project’s delayed execution and safety conditions. The figures and allegations were made by councillors during the municipal meeting and were not independently detailed in the report through a separate administrative statement.
The councillors also raised the issue of traffic management at intersections along the road. Shinde claimed that traffic wardens were not present at junctions despite ₹60 crore being allocated for the purpose. The report did not specify the period covered by the allocation, the number of intersections involved or the municipal agency responsible for deployment.
The Katraj-Kondhwa Road has remained a significant municipal infrastructure concern because construction and associated utility-shifting work have continued alongside daily traffic movement. The latest accident has brought those unresolved implementation issues back into the civic body’s proceedings, with elected representatives focusing on the relationship between incomplete works, roadside obstructions and traffic control.
The reported municipal response at the meeting centred on the questions raised by councillors about accountability for the accident, the removal of electricity poles and the road’s completion. The report did not provide details of any final administrative decision, disciplinary action or revised completion schedule announced during the meeting.
The next official steps will depend on the Pune Municipal Corporation’s response to the demands raised in the general body meeting, including whether it orders an inquiry, identifies responsibility for the unresolved works or provides a timeline for completing the road and removing the remaining utility poles.
