Pune: Though the Pune Grand Tour brought international acclaim to the city and earned the administration praise for its seamless execution, the event also highlighted a stark divide in the city’s infrastructure.For a city often mocked for potholes the size of “lunar craters”, the tour routes showcased roads on a par with world-class standards. However, this facelift was selective. Residents of Hadapsar, Kharadi, and Cantonment areas —along with other roads in city’s eastern pockets — claimed they have been abandoned by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) simply because no grand tour routes passed through their neighbourhoods.This is not the first time the city has seen “event-driven” repairs. In May 2023, the PMC renovated 15 major arteries, including the Solapur Highway, ahead of the G20 summit. Today, those same roads have returned to a precarious state, riddled with uneven patches, potholes, and poorly managed traffic. While global audiences saw visuals of a sleek, modern Pune, local taxpayers are expressing frustration over the short-lived nature of these improvements.Aniruddha Pawaskar, the chief engineer of the roads department, attributed the rapid deterioration to constant excavation. “The biggest culprits are frequent digging by various PMC departments for water pipelines and storm drains, as well as external agencies like the police department for CCTVs and MNGL for gas lines,” Pawaskar said. “Massive infrastructure work is constantly compromising road integrity.“In an attempt to protect the newly paved tour routes, Omprakash Divate, additional municipal commissioner (special), announced a strict new policy. “Prior to the tour repairs, we held a meeting with all utility agencies led by the commissioner. They were given written instructions: no permission will be granted to dig up these newly asphalted roads for at least three years,” Divate said. He warned that the civic body would no longer be liberal with permits and would impose heavy penalties for unauthorized excavation.Pawaskar added that agencies were given a 45-day window to complete their work before the asphalting began. “Once a road’s strength is compromised by digging, water seeps in and it cannot be fully restored. We intend to keep these specific roads intact,” he said.However, these assurances ring hollow for residents living outside the “prestige zones”. Sriniwas Vardha, a resident of Hadapsar, questioned the PMC’s internal coordination. “If PMC cannot coordinate between its own departments, how can they claim to run the city? Before the G20, they planted decorative shrubs and fixed the roads; today, the plants are dead and the roads are worse than before.”Tanishk Ameta, a resident of Mundhwa, echoed the sentiment, calling for accountability over aesthetics. “Why does the PMC need an international event to provide safe roads? It’s heartbreaking to see world-class images of Pune online when we know people are still losing their lives to potholes in the neglected areas. The PMC must stop giving excuses. Taxpayers deserve safe roads every day, not just when the world is watching.“
