In fact, traffic chaos at several junctions along the route has been creating hardships steadily for commuters, with many unable to reach the airport on time for their flights, and causing additional issues to airport staff by demanding special service. Now, to tackle this, the Airport Advisory Committee (AAC) is pushing a proposal for an additional access road to the airport, via the Phoenix City Mall.
The proposal for the new road draws a path from behind the mall, which is currently used as a parking zone. At an AAC meeting on Sunday, members put forth the demand before civic officials, demanding that they acquire this land to develop a road. “There is a need for an alternative access route to the airport. It will solve regular traffic jam issues. PMC has assured of doing the needful,“ said Anil Shirole, MP and chairman of AAC.
Ajay Kumar, director of Pune Airport, said, “The number of daily passengers has increased by 30 per cent over the last eight months alone. Growth was around 16 per cent last year. And, with the number of daily flights rising, the number of passengers has also increased rapidly and a commensurate number of flights are being missed over the last few months. The existing road cannot cater to the flow of traffic during peak hours.AAC has been pushing for a new access road and have also requested that traffic marshals be deployed at seven spots to control the situation.“
A security official at the airport told Mirror on condition of anonymity, “Passengers are expected to reach before 45 minutes before a national flight’s departure. Often though, they get stuck on the approach road. Even worse, they pressure us for a boarding pass even when they reach very late.“
Jagdish Mulik, Wadgaonsheri MLA and AAC member, said, “We have been pursuing this issue for a long time. Several site visits have been conducted along with PMC officials. However, they are just taking too long. Our proposed road will solve traffic problems on the airport road as well as on Nagar Road. From behind the mall, the proposed road will be 60 feet in length and connect with the existing Airport Road. In fact, work on it had even been started by the road department, but was stopped for no reason.“
Rajendra Raut, superintending engineer of the PMC road department, said, “Land of 200 metres up till Neco Gardens Society has been acquired. We started work -it will be completed this year and become functional soon. The road will also solve traffic problems on Nagar Road. AAC has demanded that we extend this road to connect with the Airport Road. But, there are several private plots between Neco Gardens Society and the airport -we have started the land acquisition procedure.“
Source : Pune Mirror
