Access Roads - The INSIDE Story

A word of CAUTION to all before reading this blog - this topic happens to be one of my favourites and is very close to my heart so I could go on and on and on and on and then some more.....

Pardon me if I overdo it and drop me a mail if you think I've gone overboard. Note that I have ONLY shared REAL FACTS and the TRUTH with no concoction/dilution whatsoever - HONEST.
This blog is NOT INTENDED to take REVENGE and has not emerged out of ANIMOSITY towards anyone.....though, it might cause "heartburn" to some which is purely INTENTIONAL.

The primary purpose of this blog (and other related topics) is to gather support from local citizens (primarily from Aundh, Baner, Pashan in Pune) and make a joint representation to PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) and if necessary to the State Government of Maharashtra as well. So, do drop us a line....in solidarity.

Here goes...................

The Pashan-Baner link road was originally planned with three access points to Baner Road.

Access Road #1: Near Hotel Green Park (Through Ivory Estates main gate):
This internal road exists (partially) and provides apartments such as Dhavalgiri, Gold Coast, Montvert Voila, Tiara etc. direct connectivity to Baner Road. However, troad has been blocked off at Avinash Bhosale's palace i.e just behind Ramnadi. (For those in the buff, Avinash Bhosale is a prominent builder, a citizen of Pune and owns the most expensive bungalow...Oops..PALACE in Baner, Pune). As per the DP plan for Baner, this is a 120ft wide road which starts from Hotel Green Park, runs parallel to Baner Road till Rolling Hills main gate and then turns left towards Pashan-Sus Road. I'll only be wasting everyone's time if I continue blabbering on this topic as some things are best forgotten and look good only in HISTORY books!! If not anywhere else, I'm sure this will find a mention in the history of Pune as "The Road that never was ". Who cares for the lesser mortals of society (also called as "Ordinary Citizens") anyway......

Access Road #2: 9metre wide road starting from opposite Domino's Pizza
This road starts from opposite Baner Telephone Exchange/Domino's Pizza and terminates in the area between Rolling Hills and Pride Purple Regent Plaza. This road too exists (partially) and provides apartments such as Atharva Residency, Indus, Pancharatna, Vascon Paradise direct connectivity to Baner Road. The road has been blocked off at the entry point to Vascon Paradise society by their main gate (YES - This the TRUTH and NO - I'm not LYING, you may visit the site and see for yourself and verify against the Development Plan for Baner). The internal road through Vascon Paradise too exists and divides their society into two phases towards the left and right of the road. The area between Vascon Paradise and Rolling Hills (~50metres) is under posession of PMC and so is the road passing through Rolling Hills which divides Rolling Hills into 2 phases, Row Houses (on the Right) and Apartments (on the left). There is another private property between Rolling Hills and Pashan-Baner link road (an old dilapidated bungalow stands on this site today) which hasn't been acquired yet by PMC. Note that this 9metre wide road can potentially provide the shortest and linear access to Baner road (less than 350metres) and is the only road which can connect the huge Public Playground (~35000 sq. ft.) which currently lies within Rolling Hills and the proposed Primary School (DP reservation) between Vascon Paradise and Rolling Hills. Residents of Vascon Paradise are opposing this road tooth-and-nail and aren't willing to handover the stretch of land proposed for the road (which lies within their compound) to PMC inspite of PMC having issued notices to them. Contrary to what many people believe, the DP road passing through Rolling Hills (road parallel to rowhouses and adjacent to the playground) is indeed a public road and this section of the road has already been handed over by the builder (Paranjape Schemes) to PMC. The huge playground in Rolling Hills too is under posession of the PMC - but presently has no access to outsiders. Amusing? Strange?.....probably yes but TRUE to the last word.

Access Road #3: The present road opp Hotel Mahabaleshwar/next to SYMANTEC
This road has thankfully and finally seen light of day sometime in 2008 and has been tarred all the way till Baner Hill (dead end). Thanks to various individuals and other agencies who participated, took active interest and painstaking effort behind-the-scenes.

Dear fellow citizens from Pune (primarily from Aundh, Baner, Pashan),
I'm not sure what can be done about the road via Ivory Estates (should we??/can we??/shall we??) but we can definitely send a joint representation to PMC officials asking them to construct the DP Road through Vascon Paradise society. An RTI application too was filed but we haven't received any response from PMC yet. If required we can also resort to legal course of action - especially since the Baner DP (for this area) has already been approved and sanctioned by the State Government of Maharashtra. It's obvious that this "crucial" link road will benefit citizens from several societies in the locality such as Whispering Wind, Kumar Sahwas, Athashri, Finesse, Camellia, Basant Bahaar, Echelon, Ojas, Blossom and Springs etc. - not to mention several new apartments which are coming up in and around the area - the precise reason why Vascon Paradise residents are opposing road. So as to minimise inconvenience to citizens staying in the immediate vicinity of this road, we had also proposed to PMC that the 9metre wide DP road can have "height limiters" installed at the entrances so as to restrict access only to private vehicles (bikes, cars etc.). PMC has already done this in some areas in Kothrud on some interior roads which are even narrower than this one. (e.g Kothrud bus depot to Guru Ganesh Nagar)

For a society of ~200 flats, we have done our bit to ensure that the present road (opp Mahabaleshwar/near Symantec) was constructed, tarred and lit. However, getting PMC to construct the DP road through Vascon Paradise surely is not an easy task and will require consistent, systematic and co-ordinated effort (not to mention perseverance, persistence and patience) of all affected housing societies and we can make a joint representaton to PMC and also go to the media if required.

Several Senior citizens from the locality have also been asking us (young blood) to do something about these issues rather than just going about our work as usual and pretending as if everything was alright - they keep telling me, "If you don't do anything, Nobody ever will". My Dear and Respectable Aajoba's and Aaji's, with your kind blessings, I have made a humble beginning by writing this blog to take our local issues to a larger audience via a forum which is easily accessible to all who want to lend an ear (and a helping hand) to our issues. Only time will tell whether we succeed or not......

For those of you who are now convinced (or close to it) - I recommend you make a site visit and see all the (proposed) access roads yourself to gauge the situation first-hand. If you are convinced, drop us mail on RollingHillsBaner@GMail.com to pledge your support which will help us in taking this forward.

(TRUTHFUL) REFERENCES:

1) Baner-Balewadi Development Plan:

http://www.punecorporation.org/informpdf/dp23vill/dp23villageplan21102008/P_UNIT_1.pdf

2) Land use Maps from wikimapia.org
3) Photographs and Maps - COMING SOON!!