Pune’s draft development plan for nine villages merged into the municipal limits has proposed reducing the width of 84 roads, prompting Pune Municipal Corporation opposition leader Nilesh Nikam to ask the Maharashtra government to stop the move and review the road network before granting approval.
The development plan contains 143 proposals and has been published by the PMC town planning department. It is expected to be forwarded to the state government for approval. In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nikam argued that the roads in the newly merged villages should not be narrowed because rising traffic could create congestion in the future.
“Reducing the width of 84 roads in the newly merged villages will create serious traffic congestion in the future. The civic administration should ensure adequate road widths to accommodate the city’s growing traffic,” Nikam said, according to the report.
Nikam also cited Pune’s existing transport pressures. He said Pune ranks second only to Bengaluru for traffic congestion and is fourth in the country in vehicle sales. These figures were used in his appeal for retaining adequate road widths in areas that are being incorporated into the city’s expanding urban framework.
According to planning norms cited by Nikam, roads should account for 15% of the total area covered by a development plan. He said Pune has reserved only about 9% of its area for roads. The proposed narrowing of roads in the merged villages, he argued, could further limit the space available for movement as development and traffic increase.
The dispute also extends beyond road capacity. Nikam has asked the state government and the PMC to reserve separate plots for solid waste management facilities and PMPML bus depots in the development plan. He raised concerns about the distribution of waste-processing infrastructure, saying most of Pune’s existing facilities are located in Hadapsar and that this concentration places health risks on residents in the area.
He further linked the issue to Pune’s performance in the Swachh Survekshan survey, stating that the city had slipped out of the rankings. His demand is for waste-processing facilities to be distributed more evenly across the city rather than concentrated in one area.
The nine villages were merged into the PMC limits as part of Pune’s continuing expansion. Their inclusion in the development plan requires decisions on road reservations, public transport facilities and civic infrastructure to be made alongside future land-use planning. The draft plan will now move from the municipal town planning process to the state government for consideration and approval.
