‘Pune’ Best City to live in, is also the 7th most congested city in India

On Nov 10, 2018

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Pune city which was recently named as the number one city to live in India has now got a thing which no Punekar will be proud. The city which is an educational hub, IT industry and cultural capital is also the 7^th most congested city in India.

Pune is the seventh most congested city in India, according to a recent research published under the US-based organisation, National bureau of economic research (NBER). Conducted by a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and three other U.S. universities, the research studies the current status of mobility in urban India, using Google maps.

Tejaswi Satpute, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Pune, said that the probable cause of the ranking can be the limited infrastructure and citizen approach.“There is a lack of proper infrastructure in the city, when it comes to accessing mobility and traffic condition. While the government is making it attempts to fill that gap, there is a big lack of scope for widening infrastructure in the heart of the city, which includes peth areas especially. Congestion is the highest in those areas mostly,” she said.

Traffic offenders are one of the most important reason for a city to get congested but in order to ensure strict compliance of traffic rules under the ‘no traffic violation zone’, the Pune traffic police collected ₹76,48,800 as a fine from 32,515 traffic violation cases in seven days.

According to the findings, Bangalore tops the index for most congested city, and Mumbai in the second position, while Pune follows in the seventh place. In another index of traffic speed, Kolkata has been found to be the slowest city, while Pune manages to hold down its position to the 20th place.

The research studies the current situation of mobility in urban India, using Google maps. Reportedly, Tejaswi Satpute, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Pune, told the national daily that probably the cause of ranking can be the limited infrastructure He further added that the government is making sincere attempts to bridge the gap. “There is a big lack of scope for widening infrastructure in the heart of the city, which includes peth areas especially. Congestion is the highest in those areas mostly,” said Tejaswi.

However, the research paper,‘Mobility & Congestion in Urban India’ byVictor Couture of Haas school of business, is the first large-scale analysis of traffic congestion in 154 Indian cities. The research was done using Google maps.