Latest news with #PrashantWaghmare
Indian Express
3 days ago
- General
- Indian Express
Difficulty in building separate tracks compels PMC to explore option of developing cycle lane
Facing hurdles in earmarking the ambitious Comprehensive Bicycle Plan on the Development Pan (DP) of the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is planning to provide a cycle lane segregated with painting on the road instead of developing separate tracks. In 2017, the PMC adopted the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan prepared with the help of the Union government. According to the plan, the civic body planned to develop an 824 km long dedicated cycle track at an estimated cost of Rs 335 crore. However, only around 80km of the cycle track has been developed in the city so far. The plan included retrofitting of the existing 54km track, new segregated cycle tracks spanning over 531km, 154 km long painted cycle lanes, 10km of merging footpath and cycle tracks and 75 km of greenways. 'The Comprehensive Bicycle Plan is ready but there are technical hurdles in mapping it on the DP of the city. However, this has not deterred us from implementing it on field,' said city engineer Prashant Waghmare. Incharge of PMC's road department chief engineer Annirudha Pawaskar said the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan of Pune is the best plan for any city in the country. 'It's a fact that much of a dedicated cycle track could not be developed so far for lack of space on the road. We are committed to promote cycle use in the city,' said Pawaskar, who is an avid cyclist and rides every alternate day in the wee hours of the city. The situation in the city has changed very fast and the rapid urbanisation has put stress on the existing road infrastructure. 'There is pressure to provide more carriage width for vehicles on roads so making provision for a cycle track is a task while developing roads. We have now decided to provide cycle lanes instead of cycle tracks wherever there is space constraint,' said Pawaskar. He said there is not much of a demand for dedicated cycle tracks in the city but the PMC is committed to promote the non-motorised transport. 'Citizens worry about safety while using bicycles due to heavy traffic on roads. There are very few who use bicycles,' said Pawaskar adding that the best way to address the safety concern is providing greenways for citizens to cycles. Commenting on the PMC's defence of its implementation of the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan, Ranjit Gadgil, a cycling enthusiast and program director at Parisar, an NGO working in the field of urban transport, said, 'The PMC is unfortunately looking at the issue the wrong way. By citing heavy traffic as a reason to reduce space for cycles (and pedestrians), they are in fact encouraging more vehicles and discouraging cycling. School children often want to cycle, but the PMC has failed to implement its own School Travel Improvement Program (STIP) that will ensure children can safely cycle to school. The PMC could at least improve the condition of the existing cycle tracks, make sure those are usable, but that has not happened. Greenways are indeed a good idea and 75km have been proposed in the Bicycle Plan, but there has been no progress on that either.' Meanwhile, even the smallest steps to curb the growth of vehicles have not been taken, such as the parking policy which was approved in 2017. 'Cycle lanes on heavy traffic roads like Ganeshkhind Road are an eyewash, as they are not safe passages for cyclists, and even those are poorly implemented. Every single transport policy and plan has proposed non-motorized transport and public transport improvement and discouraged personal vehicles. This has to be done in earnest by the city if we are to see any improvement, not just for cyclists but for overall traffic,' said Gadgil. Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast. Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste. Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter. Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
ET Make in India SME Regional Summits: Vidarbha's industrial awakening
Live Events Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, long known primarily for its oranges and cotton fields, is experiencing a shift that has business leaders and policymakers buzzing with optimism. This subject was core to the ET Make in India SME Regional Summit - Nagpur, which took place on July 24, 2025. This edition had IDBI as banking and lending partner and Canon as tech enabler."Nagpur is now in take-off mode as an industrial capital of Vidarbha," said Julfesh Shah, Chairman of the Chamber of Small Industry Associations (COSIA), Vidarbha Chapter, capturing the sentiment that underlined the panel discussion, 'Unlocking Vidarbha's potential: Building a stronger MSME ecosystem in central India '. The other panellists were Prashant Mohota, MD, Gimatex Industries (Textiles) & President, Vidarbha Industries Association; Prashant Waghmare, DGM & Regional Head, APEDA; and Aakash Awasthi, Branch Head, NSIC, transformation in the heart of India is tangible. Infrastructure development spanning 100 kilometres around Nagpur, including new roads, bridges, and metro connectivity, has laid the foundation for what industry leaders believe will be the country's next major manufacturing hub. This boom is already attracting attention from investors and manufacturers looking beyond traditional industrial decades, Vidarbha's industrial identity was synonymous with cotton textiles. But industry leaders are pushing for a fundamental shift. Prashant Mohota highlighted both the challenge and opportunity ahead."Countries like China, Vietnam, and Korea have grown on the strength of man-made fibres [MMFs], but we remain cotton-dependent," he explained. The irony isn't lost on local manufacturers: one of the world's biggest MMF producers, Indorama, operates nearby, and yet local adoption remains minimal.'We [also] need region-specific cotton R&D. Institutions like CICR and CIRCOT are helping, but the reach is limited. Sustainable cotton production is the future. Without that, our industry cannot scale globally,' Mohota textile sector, which currently exports 30-35% of its production, is now focused on innovation and international collaboration. With new skill development policies launched under Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and two universities planned around Nagpur, the region is betting on its youth to drive the next phase of textiles diversify, Vidarbha's agricultural exports are experiencing their own renaissance. Nagpur oranges, protected by geographical indication status, are breaking new ground in international markets. Prashant Waghmare shared promising developments at the ET SME Summit: while 80% of current exports still go to Bangladesh, the region is successfully expanding into Middle Eastern markets and Dubai supermarkets.'We aim to support farmers with training and linkages to foreign markets. There's great potential here if we continue investing in cold storage, logistics, and processing infrastructure,' he numbers speak to the potential. Last week alone, Vidarbha exported 300 metric tonnes of oranges. Companies such as DIS and Fresh Market are already operational, while small-scale entrepreneurs are being supported through export facilitation centers that provide automatic grading, waxing, and pre-cooling MSME sector, which accounts for about 96% of India's industrial units, is receiving unprecedented support in Vidarbha. The revised MSME definition, which allows enterprises with up to ₹125 crore investment and ₹500 crore turnover to qualify for benefits, has expanded the eligible base challenges persist. GST complexities, particularly the 18% tax on commercial property leases, continue to burden small manufacturers. COSIA has taken these issues to court, with favorable judgments emerging in Gujarat and cases pending in Mumbai High Awasthi from NSIC emphasised that Maharashtra's Package Scheme of Incentives offers support across all scales, from small to ultra-mega industries."Maharashtra's policies are among the best, based on our comparison across eight states," he said, though land availability remains a convergence of infrastructure development, policy support, and market diversification has created what industry leaders describe as a perfect storm for growth. The region's strategic location, improved connectivity, and emerging ecosystem of support institutions are attracting serious investor the panel at the ET SME Summit in Nagpur concluded, the message was clear. Vidarbha is no longer just an agricultural heartland. It's positioning itself as India's next industrial frontier, where traditional strengths in textiles and agriculture are reimagined for global question isn't whether Vidarbha will emerge as a major industrial hub; industry leaders seem convinced it will. The question is how quickly the region can execute its ambitious vision, and how effectively it can leverage its unique advantages in an increasingly competitive investors and manufacturers looking beyond saturated industrial centres, Nagpur's message is simple: the stage is set, the infrastructure is ready, and the takeoff has ET Make in India SME Regional Summits, ET MSME Day, and ET MSME Awards are flagship initiatives to celebrate the versatility and success of India's MSME sector. If you lead or are part of a micro, small, or medium enterprise, register for the ET MSME Awards 2025 before August 31, 2025.
