Pune, 20 August 2025: Continuous heavy rainfall for the past two days, coupled with sudden roadwork, created major traffic chaos on Sinhgad Road. The congestion was worst around Vitthalwadi and Prakash Inamdar Chowk, where Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) began unexpected construction without prior notice.
Despite the Sinhgad Road flyover still awaiting its official opening date, the PMC abruptly blocked the central divider at Prakash Inamdar Chowk. One side of the road was dug up for divider work, while construction of a pedestrian pathway started on the other. Crucially, this work began during peak morning office hours, forcing vehicles into narrow lanes and causing long queues in every direction.
Traffic from Manikbaug, Anandnagar, and Hingne clashed with vehicles coming from Tukainagar, Damodarnagar, Mahadev Nagar, Anand Vihar, and Vishrantinagar via the canal road. At the same time, vehicles from Rajaram Bridge trying to reach Hingne and Vishrantinagar were also caught in the snarl. The situation worsened when canal road traffic backed up all the way to Damodarnagar.
Frustrated commuters, particularly office-goers, were left stranded for long durations. Some even described the situation as unbearable. Eventually, police officers Suhas Hajare, Umesh Tikole, Amit Pujari, Srikant Sargar, and female constables had to physically remove stones and barricades from the road to ease vehicle movement.
The poorly timed roadwork once again highlighted the lack of planning by the municipal authorities, leaving Sinhgad Road residents and commuters grappling with daily traffic nightmares.
