A detailed statement with reasons as to why the subway needs to be constructed, along with a traffic survey conducted at the spot, has been issued by PMC’s additional city engineer Shrinivas Bonala.

Last week, work on the subway was by local residents and shopkeepers, who said that the project was unnecessary and that it would only create traffic chaos.

In the statement signed by Bonala, the PMC has denied that the construction was started suddenly. It states that funds have been allocated for the subway in three consecutive municipal budgets. The subway is being constructed with the citizens’ needs in mind, it claims.

“The subway project has also been mentioned in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP), which was widely discussed with various organisations, citizens’ groups and the traffic police,” the statement says.
According to the PMC, the subway is necessary as a survey conducted at the junction had shown that 1,310 citizens cross the road every hour. Countering the argument that the subway was not required since Fergusson College road has been made one-way, Bonala said that even if the traffic system has changed, the number of people crossing the road is more or less the same.