A month after progress on the Pune Metro rail project in the city came to a halt, work resumed in some stretches of Paud Road yesterday (Monday, 27th April 2020). Officials of the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) said this will extended, in a phased manner, to other sections in the city, including the riverbed portion.
MahaMetro said work was taken up as per a state government order issued on April 23, which allowed Metro work to restart after ensuring social distancing norms and other preconditions. “We are resuming work according to the order issued by the state chief secretary. The state government has issued revised guidelines about the measures to be taken for containment of Covid-19 while starting such work.
Subsequently, a letter has also been issued by the state urban development department about resuming work,” a MahaMetro official said. MahaMetro is developing two lines in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, both split into four sections. The 16.59km-long Line 1, connecting PCMC to Swargate, will be an elevated0underground hybrid. The first 11.57km, from PCMC to Range Hills, will be elevated, after which the Metro will go underground — near the College of Agriculture — till Swargate.
Work on the elevated section is nearly completed till Dapodi, while tunnel-boring machines had started the tunnel excavations for the underground route in December. MahaMetro had also initiated trials runs on a 5km stretch of the elevated line, between the Sant Tukaramnagar and Phugewadi stations, earlier this year.
The elevated stretch will have nine stations, while five stations will be underground. The other line, 14.67km long, will connect Vanaz and Ramwadi and will be completely elevated, with 16 stations. Work on the Vanaz, Anandnagar and Ideal Colony stations is well under way. “The state government’s order says that Metro work can be resumed.
We have accordingly informed the PMC and shared with them a detailed working plan,” Hemant Sonawane, general manager (PR) of MahaMetro, said. “We have shared the government order with the contractors and instructed them about following the guidelines. The contractors have prepared work resumption plans in view of the contagion. The workforce will follow these plans,” he added.
According to MahaMetro data, over 2,800 workers who stay in transit camps at Metro sites have been trained on the precautions they are expected to take. The workers will arrive at the work sites in buses. They have been told to maintain social distancing and hygiene. The work on priority sections and at the riverfront will start first, with the authorities eyeing a June completion for work on the riverbed.