The PMC roads department is investing 3 crore to reduce the slope from 10 feet to 3 feet and rebuild it to a width of 24 metres. Citizen activism on social media, combined with on-the-ground efforts by elected officials, has finally resulted in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) launching repairs on the accident-prone Mohammadwadi slope near the main gate of the Anandvan forest areas. The only connecting road to the opulent Mohammadwadi area is the slope that leads to Cloud 9 society, which has become a major traffic bottleneck. Despite the forest department's in-principle approval for land acquisition and other modalities, the project was further stalled because neighbouring societies objected to parting with their land, which included demolishing their fencing walls. Residents of the area staged a number of protests against the PMC, led by the NIBM Annexe Residents Forum and the Anandvan Parisar Citizens Forum, demanding urgent repairs to the slope, but the civic body ignored their pleas. Nanda Lonkar, a Mohammadwadi corporator, and NCP office holders previously discussed the matter with senior forest department officials in Nagpur and secured consent for the project. “We have been demanding slope reduction of the bottleneck for the past ten years,” said NIBM Annexe citizens forum director Daljeet Goraya. “Our organisation had petitioned the PMO and CMO for the bottleneck removal work, but the PMC ignored our requests. The National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) was also contacted about the matter because both the PMC and the forest department had demonstrated apathy towards the citizens. We hope that the work will be completed soon,” Goraya said. Nitin Bokey, a prominent civic rights activist and Ganga Florentina Society resident, stated, “The area residents had been meeting the PMC commissioner and all the stakeholders including elected representatives for a long time. Their efforts were rewarded when the forest department approved the land acquisition and the PMC approved funding for the project.” Avinash Kamthe, a PMC road development sub-engineer, responded to the issue, saying, “We have sanctioned ₹3 crore for the project, and massive digging is currently underway to reduce the slope. The work should be concluded in two months.” See also: Pune district guardian minister sets June 30 deadline to finish smart city works Pune authorities ordered to repair 400 km of poor roads