Mayor to seek Gadkari’s intervention over stalled Dwarka-Nashik Road project clearance

Nashik: With key road infrastructure projects stalled ahead of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2027, Nashik mayor Himgauri Aher on Wednesday said she will meet Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari soon to seek final approval for the long-pending widening of the Dwarka Circle-Datta Mandir stretch of the Nashik-Pune highway.Although the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given in-principle approval, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is yet to receive final clearance for the 203-crore project, even a month after tenders were floated, Aher said, warning that delays could jeopardise critical Kumbh-related infrastructure works.On March 17, the NMC invited bids for asphalting and widening the 6.4-km city stretch from Dwarka Circle to Datta Mandir in Nashik Road, including the service road alongside the flyover. While April 11 was initially fixed as the deadline for bids, it was later extended to April 27 due to poor response, which civic officials attributed partly to the lack of final NHAI approval.The civic administration said it plans to expedite the tender process and issue work orders at the earliest once clearance is received. The road widening is targeted for completion by March 2027, a timeline seen as crucial as Kumbh Mela preparations enter a time-sensitive phase.The Dwarka-Nashik Road corridor is among the city's busiest, handling continuous intercity and regional traffic towards Pune, Shirdi and the Sinnar industrial belt, besides heavy local movement. High commercial activity along the stretch has worsened congestion, making the project long overdue. Officials said the widened road is expected to nearly double traffic-handling capacity and ease daily bottlenecks.Mayor Aher said she also raised broader concerns over stalled Kumbh-related infrastructure during her meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai on Tuesday. She sought approval for 45 road projects worth over 1,500 crore proposed by the NMC that were rejected by the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA).Officials said while the NMC proposed 240km of roads costing over 3,000 crore, the NTKMA cleared only 28 roads spanning 117.4km at a cost of 1,270 crore, along with approval for just four of the 17 proposed bridges.