Senseless actions by PMC at University junction

[Prashant Inamdar-PedFIRST]

Dt. 08-11-17

To,

Mr. Kunal Kumar

Municipal Commissioner

PMC

Subject : Senseless actions by PMC at University junction

Dear Sir,

We make reference to the meeting with you earlier when presentation was given of our proposal for Aundh road widening in the vicinity of University junction. Our plan had been worked out without touching the magnificent banyan tree cluster as well as the heritage police chowky. It had been agreed in the meeting that this plan is workable and can be implemented as a golden mean avoiding destruction of trees and the chowky.

Recently WRI had also proposed a plan for University junction at the request of PMC. We understand that you had approved the plan and instructed that trials be conducted. As per our knowledge this plan too did not envisage cutting of trees at the junction or demolition of the chowky. 

Despite above, PMC demolished the heritage chowky and also cut some of the trees as well tree branches from the tree cluster. This has mutilated the magnificent cluster of grand old banyan trees. Worst part is that this action was unecessary and futile which in fact is likely to aggravate the congestion situation at the junction. It has to be noted that the Ganeshkhind road which receives the traffic from Aundh road is only about 12 metre wide and hence it is meaningless to widen the Aundh road to a width of 18 metres as per the DP. Hence the maximum width of Aundh road at the junction should be in the range 12 - 14 metres. It was possible to achieve this road width without cutting trees or demolishing the chowky and we had shown how it can be done in our plan. There has been no further discussion on the plan. PMC needs to explain to the public as to why the trees were cut and chowky demolished against expert advice and what benefits would be available for the city. 

As per modern practice, road junctions are designed to be compact for various reasons such as streamlined traffic flow, lesser time for vehicles to pass through the junction, shorter crossing distances for pedestrians and safer junction. PMC has appointed Urban design Consultants who are proposing designs to make existing junctions compact. University junction is already a big junction and the need is to make it as compact as possible. On this background it is quite shocking that PMC has cut grand old trees and demolished the heritage chowky which would now make the University junction much larger than what it is at present. PMC should clarify about this inconsistency in thought and action. 

It is now seen that even as the serious issue of tree cutting and saving remaining trees is being discussed, PMC has gone ahead and done tarring of road right up to the banyan tree trunk. This is in gross violation of the standard norms, Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG) adopted by PMC and also Court orders which mandate that sufficient clear breathing space be kept around the tree trunk as per the trunk diameter, without any asphalting, concreting, blocks etc. PMC has very well taken care of this aspect on JM road. So why has such illegal deviation been done for the grand ols banyan tree at University junction? Moreover it is also quite dangerous for road to be extended right up to the tree trunk. There is possibility of accidents as well as damage to the tree. Due to above reasons there is every likelihood of the tree falling down in the near future. Is this what PMC really wants?

Whereas PMC has taken several progressive steps in the matter of road design and traffic engineering such as Pedestrian Policy, Urban Street Design Guidelines, Bicycle plan, appointment of Urban design Consultants for road and junction design etc., such actions on field as at University junction are contradictory raising serious doubts about the real intentions of PMC. 

We sincerely hope that various progressive steps being taken by you are not meant to be only a paper exercise. It would be good if you could spare some time with road & traffic activists to understand the gravity of the matter and take suitable corrective steps to salvage the situation.

Regards,

Prashant Inamdar

Convenor

Pedestrians FIRST