With an expected no objection certificate (NoC) from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) yet to land, the Pune Municipal Corporation is unable to start its stalled project to construct two additional bridges near the narrow Holkar Bridge. No work has commenced since March.

Work on the Rs 61-crore project started in August 2008 but the project was stalled after the PMC raised about six pillars because the NoC did not arrive. Now, the project is set to overshoot its 21-month deadline.

“Before finalising the plan that is being rolled out presently, we held a number of meetings with Defence personnel, including Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) officials, as there were some objections to the earlier design. Thereafter, we changed the plan thrice,” V R Patil, executive engineer (projects) told Newsline. He said, “The local Defence authorities had given permission for the construction in anticipation that the MoD would later give the NoC. Since the MoD did not give it, we were asked to stop work midway. Since March end, we have not been able to take things further.”

“We could complete only about 15 per cent of the work and have constructed a few pillars. We had to suspend work following orders from the Defence authorities,” Patil added.

The Holkar Bridge is only 6.5 metres wide due to which commuters face a lot of problems. As per the present design, the bridge would be kept intact and two additional bridges-one parallel to the old bridge 19 metres away and a flyover-will be erected.

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