Slow pace of road work leaves commuters in the lurch

The Baner Road is supposed to be the best in the city, considering the VIP movement to the sports complex in Balewadi for some reason or the other, including the recently held Asian Athletics Championships, in which 1,500 of athletes of 43 countries participated.

However, the civic administration has failed to complete work on this road, particularly of putting up dividers along the entire stretch of the road. Add to this the failure of the officials to ensure proper streetlights along this crucial road.

The Pune Municipal Corporation undertook the development of Baner Road under JNNURM. Most of the work was carried out on a war-footing during the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008, while the civic administration planned to complete the remaining later on.

The widening of the road is complete and also the concretisation of the entire stretch. However, there is unevenness at some places due to manholes, but the main concern is due to the dividers remaining incomplete.

There is enough room only for one pilot. Freight or passengers are unthinkable at this stage in the solar-power plane's development.

About one-quarter of its weight is batteries that store solar light and allow the plane to fly independent of sunshine. The wings of the plane hold the 12,000 solar cells, which transfer energy to the batteries and the four motors.

The last leg of the flight is also be a farewell for the Solar Impulse. Ten years after it was designed and after setting numerous records, it will be retired. Borschberg and his partner, Bertrand Piccard, also of Switzerland, aim to fly its successor around the world in several stages.

To add to the problem,

the Baner Road has streetlights that do not work. This too causes much inconvenience to commuters. "The streetlights were not working at a particular point on the road, where the road got uneven due to a manhole. I fell from the bike and injured myself," said Suresh Naik, who was returning from Balewadi in the evening last week.

"There are certain places where the civic body is putting dividers on road and one has to be careful while driving on this stretch to avoid AN accident," said Sheetal Joshi, who uses the road everyday to go to work. "The civic administration should put up signboards at places where work is going on, so that the citizens are extra careful while using these roads. Moreover, any such work needs to be completed at a faster pace," she added.

Satish Khot of National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC) said, "The quality of street-lighting, particularly in the fringe areas, is very poor. Certain portions of the roads, which are used by influential people, the construction sites are brightly lit-up even though these areas are sparsely populated."

In a letter to Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak, he said, "We would like to bring to your attention the fact that street lighting in many parts of the city and particularly in the fringe areas is not up to mark. In the fringe areas, many streets are poorly lit and at times are in total darkness." When street and footpaths are well lit, pedestrians and vehicles find it much safer to traverse, he added.

Maintaining that the work of constructing dividers would be completed soon, civic officials said, "The civic electrical department would be asked to repair the street lights and further improve the lighting on Baner Road."