Articles by Ekta Joshi

As with all other major urban centres, Pune’s daily wage earners are among the worst hit by the Coronavirus lockdown. As Pune grew in size and developed as one of Maharashtra’s major economic hubs, the city became home to lakhs of migrant workers, all of whom are today struggling to make ends meet due to the sudden loss of all income, as construction work and factories closed down overnight. While a few did manage to return home before the countrywide lockdown came into force, most who are stuck in Pune have no access to basic needs like food and shelter.…

Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation goes full throttle with its Smart City initiatives, the work in progress is causing major problems for Punekars. The most irksome being poor road conditions. Despite several measures taken by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and other civic bodies, Pune’s roads continue to be plagued with potholes, dim-lights, and ill-constructed speed-breakers and dividers. “Commuting via the potholed Choudhary Basti Road in Kharadi has become a nightmare for people, who are risking their lives every day to reach their destinations,” said Kharadi resident Anuradha Dubey.  Satish Mane, a resident from Kondhwa added: “The area sees…

Pune’s No 1 ranking in the Ease of Living index contrasts sharply with ground realities, especially when one considers the most basic requirement of all, water. Despite recording one of its heaviest rainfalls this season (561.8 mm, according to Dr Anupam Kashyapi, Head, Weather & Air Pollution Monitoring Unit, India Meteorological Department), and the district’s four dams -- Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon, and Temghar -- being nearly full, the city is facing a shortage of water and inequitable supply. “In our area, we have seen flooding in some societies while we queue up for drinking water”, said a distraught Arvind Vichare…

In 2006, Pune became the second city after Ahmedabad to introduce the BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) project, an ambitious scheme that envisaged the implementation of a high-quality public transport system to offset the rising vehicular traffic and the subsequent congestion within city limits. To provide its citizens with a reliable medium of public transport, the scheme promised the construction and layout of dedicated bus corridors along with new air-conditioned buses and high-end terminals and stations. In its pilot phase, the project partly operationalised a high capacity bus system on two corridors, the Swargate–Hadapsar (East‐West) Corridor of 10.2 km, and…