Citizens’ Forum Submits 22-Point Wish List to Decongest Pune’s Traffic Hotspots
Pune, 1st October 2025: The Association of Nagar Road Citizens Forum (ANRCF) has written to senior officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pune Police, urging immediate steps to decongest 22 traffic hotspots and 32 major roads across the city.
In a detailed letter dated September 29, the Forum, led by convenor Qaneez Sukhrani, submitted a comprehensive “Wish List” addressed to PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram and Additional Commissioner of Police (East Region) Manoj Patil, with copies sent to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, as well as senior government secretaries.
Concerns Over Urban Carrying Capacity
The Forum highlighted that Pune may have already surpassed its urban carrying capacity—the threshold of population and infrastructure an area can sustain without environmental and quality-of-life breakdowns. It questioned whether the 200 junior engineers deployed for on-ground inspections and digital reporting had been adequately trained to address the root causes of congestion.
Key Recommendations
The Wish List includes a series of immediate and long-term interventions for both the PMC and traffic police, such as:
Halting new building permissions to check migration and rising private vehicle ownership.
Strengthening PMPML’s public transport network to reduce dependence on private vehicles.
Converting amenity spaces and public land into pay-and-park multimodal facilities for buses, tempos, taxis, and private vehicles.
Reviving underutilized parking lots, including at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir and JM Road.
Implementing the Parking Policy 2016 across all major city roads.
Enforcing High Court orders in PIL No. 141 of 2023 for removal of illegal hawkers, food stalls, and encroachments from footpaths.
Relocating MSEDCL poles, feeder boxes, and trees obstructing pedestrian pathways.
Phasing out unauthorized auto stands and demolishing remaining BRTS corridors.
Ensuring PMPML bus stops are at least 50 meters away from junctions.
Reversing the “No-Signal/Only U-Turn” traffic plan on Nagar Road.
Citizens Call for Political Will
The Forum urged authorities to resist pressure from political parties and unions, which it claimed often interfered with measures intended to ease congestion.
“Plans are always good but it remains to be seen if these actualize or fail,” Sukhrani wrote in the letter, adding that the suggestions would ultimately support PMC and traffic police in achieving their stated goal of decongesting Pune’s roads.
