Pune: 50-year-old Sadhu Vaswani railway overbridge being razed

Pune: The demolition of the Sadhu Vaswani railway overbridge (ROB) in the Queens Garden has been started by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

A new ROB will be built by bringing down the 50-year-old facility. The new bridge is likely to solve traffic issues in the Koregaon Park area.

The old ROB became risky for traffic as heavy vehicles were also using it. In March 2018, the Standing Committee of the PMC decided to conduct a technical audit and checking of old bridges and ROBs in the city. It was found that the Sadhu Vaswani Bridge had become dangerous for traffic. The Government Engineering College had submitted a report to the civic body in this regard.

However, a delay took place as the PMC could not decide whether to demolish the entire ROB or repair it. The Public Works Department (PWD) built the 500-m long bridge. It was repaired 17 years ago. Heavy vehicles were banned from using the ROB.

It is proposed to implement an integrated traffic plan from Koregaon Park to the Bund Garden Bridge, under which the Sadhu Vaswani ROB is to be demolished. The railway administration gave the green signal to raze the ROB. The foundation stone of the new bridge was also laid by DyCM Devendra Fadnavis and State Minister Chandrakant Patil.

Traffic diversions were implemented in the area on an experimental basis before the demolition of the ROB started. The razing started after the traffic diversions proved to be successful. The new ROB will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 83 crore, for which a formidable allocation has been made in the Civic Budget.