Pune: The Baba Bhide bridge is set to reopen for vehicular movement from 6am to 11pm from Saturday to manage Diwali rush in Peth and Deccan Gymkhana areas.Officials from Maha Metro said the decision to reopen the bridge for vehicles for the next few days was taken in a joint meeting held recently to discuss the travel plan ahead of Diwali. They said there was no plan to stop the Metro work. It would continue during night hours.An official said, “We are rescheduling the work plan. The contractors have been told to shift the machinery from the carriageway during the daytime so that roads can be used by commuters. The bridge was reopened during Ganeshotsav. We will follow a similar practice for Diwali.”Commuters and civic activists had demanded that the civic body reopened the bridge during Diwali. Regular commuters have been unhappy over the bridge closure for over six months owing to the non-completion of cable-stayed bridge near Deccan Gymkhana Metro station. Commuters said the infrastructure works at critical spots should be finished at the earliest.The traffic police and Maha Metro had appealed to road users to take alternate routes like Lakdi bridge and Z-bridge to cross the river. The divertion, however, gave rise to traffic snarls at both the other bridges during peak hours.Maha Metro expects to complete cable-stayed bridge by the end of Dec. It will help commuters reach the Deccan Gymkhana Metro station from the Narayan Peth area. The Metro authority has also commissioned a similar bridge at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Garden Metro station.
