Pune: Traffic police department has introduced a diversion at Council Hall Chowk, adding to the several alternative routes already in force in the area owing to ongoing work of Sadhu Vaswani bridge.The proposed plan said now vehicles would not be allowed to go straight to Sadhu Vaswani Chowk from Council Hall Chowk. Instead, they would have to travel towards hotel Blue Nile Chowk, take a U turn to move towards IB Chowk or go via city police commissioner office chowk to reach Sadhu Vaswani Chowk. The stretch between Sadhu Vaswani Chowk to Council Hall Chowk would be open only to one-way movement towards Council Hall Chowk. The changes are expected to come into force on Saturday on a pilot basis. The decision to make the stretch between Sadhu Vaswani Chowk to Council Hall Chowk one-way has been taken to reduce road congestion.Commuters said that already, vehicles are stuck for long at all key chowks in the Council Hall area. In case the changes are not implemented with a proper plan, it may increase overall commute time.Santosh Raut, who often goes to the state govt’s new administration building located at Council Hall Chowk, said the entire area faces frequent traffic snarls. “Traffic police and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have diverted the entire traffic flow via Council Hall and IB chowks towards Bund Garden since last year. Diversions are causing snarls at Council Hall, IB Chowk, Wadia College and Bund Garden Road,” he added.Alok Mate of Koregaon Park said pending work of Sadhu Vaswani bridge ha dput additional burden on nearby roads. “The bridge work must get over at the earliest,” he added. However, the bridge would be ready for vehicles only by Dec, as announced by PMC recently.Meanwhile, traffic police have also announced a diversion near Kirad Chowk to Marriage Bureau Chowk located in the area near the district collector’s office.
