Savitribai Phule Pune University has tightened entry checks at its campus gates, limiting access mainly to visitors with official work while continuing to allow morning and evening walkers during fixed hours, according to university Registrar Prafulla Pawar.
The change restores an earlier access arrangement that was relaxed after internal campus roads were opened to help manage traffic during reconstruction of the Ganeshkhind Road flyover. Pawar said the increase in traffic through the campus had become a safety concern for students.
Under the revised arrangement, people seeking entry for official work will continue to be permitted access. Walkers will also be allowed during designated morning and evening periods. The university has not indicated in the supplied report whether a detailed public notice listing the permitted categories, timings or documentation requirements has been issued.
The access restrictions have drawn objections from student groups, who said security guards were denying entry without clear written instructions. They have asked the university to clarify the policy and communicate the rules governing entry at each gate.
The dispute follows a period in which SPPU’s campus roads were used to ease movement affected by the Ganeshkhind Road flyover reconstruction. That temporary traffic function has now become part of the university’s decision to restore tighter controls, bringing campus security and city-level traffic management into direct conflict.
For students, the immediate issue is how the revised checks will operate in practice. The university’s stated concern is road safety within the campus, while the student groups’ objection centres on the absence of clear instructions and inconsistent decisions at the gates. Both aspects concern the administration of a large public institution whose roads and open spaces have also been used by people outside the university.
The supplied report does not specify how long the restrictions will remain in force, whether the traffic diversion linked to the flyover reconstruction is still active, or whether SPPU plans to issue a written access protocol. It also does not record a response from the traffic authorities or details of any formal consultation with student representatives.
The university’s next step, as sought by the student groups, is to clarify the entry policy, including who may enter for official work and the fixed hours applicable to walkers. Until those instructions are communicated, access decisions will continue to be implemented at the campus gates by security personnel.
