Pune accelerates land acquisition for HCMTR and Inner Ring Road projects

Pune district administration has directed departments to accelerate land demarcation, measurement and acquisition for two major transport infrastructure projects: the Pune Municipal Corporation’s High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s Inner Ring Road.

The directions are intended to clear land-related obstacles holding up projects planned to ease traffic congestion in Pune and improve movement across the metropolitan region.

District collector Jitendra Dudi has asked the relevant government departments to complete land demarcation and measurement within a defined timeframe, reported The Indian Express.

The Pune Municipal Corporation has also been instructed to submit the necessary documents and technical reports required for approval of proposals to transfer state government land for the projects.

The administration has received a positive response regarding the acquisition of land belonging to the Union government’s defence and railway departments. Coordination between the district administration, PMC and PMRDA will be required to secure state government and private land.

The HCMTR is planned as a 43.60-km route with a width of 24 metres. The project is estimated to require more than four lakh square metres of land, with an acquisition-related cost of around Rs 2,634 crore cited in the report.

The land requirement covers areas including Bopodi, Aundh, Bhamburda, Erandwana, Kothrud, Hingne, Parvati, Mundhwa, Hadapsar, Wanawadi, Vadgaonsheri, Lohegaon, Yerawada and Dhanori.

Separately, the PMRDA is developing plans for a 65-metre-wide Inner Ring Road intended to improve connectivity around Pune and provide an additional route for traffic moving between the city’s outskirts.

The two projects are part of a wider response to mounting pressure on Pune’s road network as vehicle ownership and urban development increase.

The civic body has also decided to conduct a drone survey and prepare a visual record of the HCMTR alignment and land required for the project. The exercise is intended to document the route and explain the proposed infrastructure’s benefits.

The latest directions focus on expediting administrative and land-acquisition work. They do not amount to a declaration that construction has been completed or that all required land has been acquired.

The pace of implementation will depend on the completion of surveys, land transfers, acquisition procedures and subsequent construction activities.