Pune, 9 July 2025: In a joint move to revive delayed infrastructure projects, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the district collectorate have decided to set up a special task force to carry out forcible land acquisition. This initiative comes after long-pending negotiations with landowners caused significant delays in key civic works, especially road-widening and bridge connectivity projects across the city.
The decision was finalized during a high-level meeting involving PMC Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, District Collector Jitendra Dudi, and senior officials from both departments. The newly formed task force is expected to prioritize land acquisition activities over the next two months, with a focus on unlocking stuck projects that are essential for improving city traffic and public transport infrastructure.
Projects such as the Katraj-Kondhwa road-widening, a river overbridge connecting Sun City to Karvenagar, and a river bridge in Wakad were among those reviewed in the meeting.
While the Wakad bridge structure is ready, it remains unusable due to the lack of approach roads, which are pending land acquisition. Similarly, the Sun City-Karve Nagar bridge aims to ease congestion on Rajaram Bridge but has also been held back by acquisition delays.
A total of 42 land acquisition proposals were discussed, with 34 linked to the PMC’s road department and the remaining involving PMPML and other agencies. Major arterial roads like the Satara–Mumbai Road and the Hadapsar–Solapur Road also featured in the list of affected projects. The PMC's road department raised concerns over missing links, short but critical road stretches that remain incomplete due to unresolved land disputes.
With former district collector Naval Kishore Ram now leading the PMC, his familiarity with land acquisition procedures is expected to drive the process forward. The task force will begin work immediately and submit weekly progress reports, aiming to acquire maximum land parcels in the shortest time to ensure timely execution of infrastructure projects.