The Pune district administration has set 30 October as the deadline for completing joint land surveys for the high-capacity mass transit route (HCMTR) and the Inner Ring Road, two projects intended to ease traffic congestion across the city. The surveys are expected to support faster acquisition of land required for both schemes.

District Collector Jitendra Dudi directed officials to complete the demarcation and measurement of land along the proposed alignments. The instructions were issued during a review meeting at the collector’s office on 15 October, attended by officials from the district administration, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and the traffic police.

The meeting was chaired jointly by Pune Municipal Corporation Commissioner Naval Kishor Ram and Dudi. Officials were also instructed to submit supplementary documents and technical reports needed to secure approval for transferring land under state government control. The administration emphasised closer coordination between the district administration, PMC and PMRDA to accelerate the acquisition process.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Manoj Patil told the meeting that the projects would help reduce pressure on roads throughout Pune. Officials said the process concerning land owned by the defence and railway departments had received a favourable response, potentially supporting progress on the proposed alignments.

The HCMTR will require approximately 498,390 sq m of land across several parts of the city. The 39.27-km Inner Ring Road will run within PMC limits, cover 21 villages and require around 332 hectares of land.

PMC’s Standing Committee has approved land acquisition proposals with a combined value of Rs. 37.22 bn. Of this amount, Rs. 26.34 bn has been sanctioned for the HCMTR and Rs. 10.89 bn for the Inner Ring Road. The latest deadline places emphasis on completing the surveys before further steps in the acquisition process can proceed.