At a high level meeting called by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar with Defence Minister AK Antony, attended by MP Suresh Kalmadi and the Mayors and the Municipal Commissioners of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in New Delhi on Tuesday, pending proposals on road-widening in the city were taken up for review and new proposals put forth to the defence minister for consideration.

“We have got clearance for several stretches of road widening which fall in the Defence areas. The Ghorpadi Overbridge and the Holkar Bridge construction — both pending for long — have been positively considered by Antony,” said Kalmadi. He also said a demand was made by him that Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funds be extended to the development of the Cantontment areas. “The Defence Minister will discuss the proposal with the Urban Development Ministry,” he said from Delhi.

Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said major road widening work in the area that was stuck due to clearance pending from defence institutions have been given an “in principle” nod and is likely to be formally cleared in two weeks time. “Major roads such as Bombay-Pune Road, Aundh-Ravet, Pune-Nashik and Nashik Phata to Wakad were put up in the meeting,” said Sharma.

Around 40 hectares are being cleared for acquisition for road works as against 48 hectares that was sought for clearance by PCMC, he added. These projects were pending for the last five years, he added.

Pune municipal commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi told The Indian Express that six of the PMC proposals were approved, eight were in the pipeline and three new ones were discussed. “The proposals taken up for discussion were the extension of Pune-Solapur Road, Pune-Nagar Road, Holkar Bridge and Ghorpadi Overbridge which were awaiting clearance,” said Pardeshi.

The other projects that are being positively considered for access to defence land include Sangamwadi Bridge, Airport Road, Bhau Patil Road, Bibewadi-Kondwa Road, Solapur Road and Ambedkar Road. At present,1.25 lakh sq m of defence land has been sought by PMC.