This is one of the 12-point action plan finalized at a high-level
meeting convened by additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan for
solving traffic problems of the city last week. The two corporations
have also been asked to ensure there are no encroachments affecting
movement of pedestrians and traffic.

Traffic officials said
that while Pune has a pay-and-park scheme for four-wheelers on some
roads, a proposal for implementing a similar scheme for two-wheelers is
pending for want of political consensus. In Pimpri Chinchwad, the
municipal corporation is yet to have a pay-and-park any kind of vehicle.
At the meeting, the civic authorities were directed to take an early
decision on implementing the scheme in congested areas.

The meeting, the second in last two months, continued its focus on encroachments that hinders with traffic flow. The Pune Municipal Corporation
has started a drive since February to remove encroachments that block
footpaths and roadsides. The civic authorities and the police were told
to ensure these illegal structures do not crop up once again.

The Pune traffic police have given various suggestions to the Pune and
Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations to improve traffic situation.
They have been told to complete all the suggested works by the end of
May. The district planning and development committee has been asked to
make a budgetary provision of Rs 2 crore for the purpose. The
corporations will be required to pursue implementation of hawkers’
policy as well as transfer lands required for the traffic police for
their divisional offices. The PMC has also been asked to submit a plan
to the state government for improvement of traffic at Chandni chowk.

In the first week of February, a decision was taken at a high-level
meeting held in Mumbai to have traffic police headquarters in Aundh.
Traffic officials said the home department will follow the proposal of
traffic police headquarters as well as pursue the proposals of man-power
and equipment shortage in the traffic police department. The home
department will also purse with the state government the implementation
of trafficop – a mobile governance project for traffic management.
Trafficop was implemented in Pune for a period of one year as a pilot
project.

Meanwhile, the PMPML, the city public bus transport
undertaking, has been asked to complete the process of procuring 500
buses on lease from contractors. Among others present for the meeting
included district collector Vikas Deshmukh,
police commissioner Gulabrao Pol, joint commissioner Sanjeevkumar
Singhal, senior officials of the regional transport office and Pune and
Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations.