NIBM & Undri residents give ‘death trap’ tag to PMC’s proposed DP road

Pune:Residents in the vicinity described a proposed Development Plan road connecting NIBM Road to Kondhwa Road as a death trap, citing its steep gradient and multiple blind spots.NIBM and Undri residents recently intensified their opposition to the road passing via the internal stretch adjacent to Clover Pinnacle Ridge. They feared reckless tanker drivers could cause havoc on the stretch. Parveen Tambe, co-founder of NIBM Undri Residents' Forum, said they were planning a protest on the weekend.The road department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was clueless about the issue. "I am not aware of residents opposing the DP Road. I will look into the matter," said Rajesh Bankar, the chief engineer of PMC's road department.Potholes, loose rubble and uneven surfaces on NIBM Road have long been a concern for residents. They said the larger threat wasin the design and execution of the proposed Development Plan (DP) road. The recent accidents involving tankers heightened their worries.The proposed DP Road would allow traffic to flow from Undri towards Kondhwa Road, bypassing choked intersections such as Baker's Point Chowk and Kausarbaug Chowk. Tambe said, "The proposed road has serious flaws. It has no chamber. There are multiple blind spots and the gradient is extremely steep. There is barely any space between some bungalows and the road. There is no margin for safety.""When a safer, parallel 24-metre road can be opened, why push this? If there are casualties tomorrow, who will be responsible? We are struggling with steep stretches like Ishrat Baug and the Pinnacle approach road," said Tambe, noting that the work on the Pinnacle access road had been going on for over four years.Residents said daily commutes along NIBM Road had become increasingly hazardous. They claimed that motorists were forced to slow down abruptly or swerve to avoid damaged patches, while speeding tankers and other heavy vehicles made life risker on the stretch. They stressed that introducing a poorly planned DP road into this strained network would only worsen the situation.Aliasgar Godhrawale, secretary of Konark Indrayu Enclave Phase 1, said, "The NIBM Road's gradient has been flattened from NIBM Chowk to Clover Hills, but the road becomes extremely steep between Kundan Peak and Konark Indrayu. The Clover Pinnacle Ridge is in between. Now imagine vehicles coming down such a steep slope and meeting another gradient (of the proposed DP road) at a near-perpendicular angle. No matter how many speed breakers you install, heavy vehicles like construction trucks and water tankers can lose control and crash head-on," he said.Bhupendrasingh Bindra, secretary of Clover Pinnacle Ridge, said repeated meetings with authorities did not yield results. "They are still adamant and are now asking us to give everything in writing," he said.Bindra also pointed to complications over the land ownership. "The road was shown as privately owned and later handed over to the PMC in Jan 2025. Soon after, we received a notice to demolish a wall built by a builder, assuming it was built by residents. The wall has existed since 2004. We only repaired it after it was damaged," he said.A road safety report commissioned by residents and prepared by Global Traffic Solutions reinforced their concerns. It found that the 375-metre stretch had gradients ranging from 10.6% to 13.7 %, far exceeding the Indian Roads Congress limit of 4%, significantly increasing the risk of brake failure, especially for heavy vehicles.It also highlighted that the intersection sans signal in the area handled over 63,000 cars daily and recorded 13 crashes between 2022 and 2024, including four fatalities. Poor visibility, lack of pedestrian infrastructure and constrained road geometry further compound the risks.