Ghorpadi railway flyover to open two months late, Pune commuters stuck in jams

Pune: People who get stuck in traffic every day in Ghorpadi will have to wait about two more months for the railway flyover near the Saibaba temple. The administration has said the flyover will be opened only after the new bridge over the adjacent nullah is completed.

Work on the flyover has been going on for nearly two years. The structure is almost ready, but the date for opening it to traffic has once again been pushed back.

Citizens first asked the Pune Municipal Corporation about the project in August last year. They were told then that the remaining work would be finished in two months and the flyover would open in October. When people asked again this October, officials said two more months would be needed.

Many residents are angry about the repeated delays. They say they kept getting date after date, with nothing to show for it. They are questioning how the administration is handling the project.

A new bridge is being built over the nullah next to the flyover. Work on it has slowed because of a high-voltage power line that passes through the same spot. Residents say that when the line was laid four or five years ago, they had asked officials to leave space, because the bridge would have to be widened later. This was not accepted, and the municipal corporation has now spent a good deal of time shifting the line. Residents hold this responsible for the delay in the nullah bridge.

Traffic around Jayhind Chowk in Ghorpadi is heavy as it is. Residents hope the jams will ease once the flyover opens.

It is being said that the flyover cannot be opened without the new bridge over the nullah. If it is opened earlier, more vehicles will head towards the existing narrow bridge over the nullah, and a fresh jam could form there. The decision to open the flyover will therefore be taken only after the nullah bridge is completed.