PMC Sets November 20 Deadline for Road Digging on Pune Grand Tour Routes, 4x Charges After That

Pune, 13th November 2026: Utility companies digging up roads on the Pune Grand Tour cycling routes must finish by Friday, November 20, or pay at least four times the usual excavation charges, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has said. The same review meeting set November 20 as the deadline for land measurement for the HCMTR and Inner Ring Road projects.

The directions came at a joint review on Thursday, November 12, chaired by Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram and District Collector Jitendra Dudi, The Free Press Journal reported.

Who has to finish digging by November 20

The order covers every agency with approved excavation on the cycling routes. The Free Press Journal said the following were named for missing earlier timelines despite holding permissions:

• Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL), which lays gas pipelines
• Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), which lays power cables
• Dinesh Engineering and Allied Digital, contractors laying cables and ducts

No new digging permissions have been issued on these routes since October 31. Agencies must also give written undertakings on how many workers and teams they will deploy.

What happens after the deadline

Any digging after November 20 will be charged at a minimum of four times the prevailing rate, and no fresh permissions will be given. The PMC has proposed that its own appointed contractors restore roads and footpaths after utility work, so that a dug-up stretch is not left half repaired.

What the road contractors have been told

The Grand Tour road upgrade is split into four packages. According to The Free Press Journal:

• Most packages must cross 36% progress by the next review
• Packages close to completion must add at least 30% more work
• Asphalt alone will not count as complete. Footpaths, kerbstones and road markings must also be finished
• Contractors who miss milestones face show-cause notices, penalties under the tender and possible cancellation

Ward officers and the anti-encroachment department have been asked to clear hawkers and encroachments along the whole route. Our earlier report on the Package 4 inspection lists some of the roads involved.

HCMTR and Inner Ring Road: land measurement due

The same meeting reviewed two long-pending road projects. Officers were told to finish measuring private land needed for the High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) and to complete pending joint measurement for the Inner Ring Road by November 20, Punekar News reported.

Additional Municipal Commissioners Pavneet Kaur and Omprakash Divte, City Engineer Aniruddha Pavaskar and Chief Engineer (Roads) Rajesh Bankar attended. The HCMTR is a ring corridor planned for decades; read about its funding in our story on PMC’s Cosmos Bank deposit and the HCMTR.

What it means for residents

If you live or commute along a Grand Tour route, expect a final burst of digging and resurfacing over the next week, followed by footpath and marking work. Lane closures may come at short notice. Check our Pune traffic and metro section for diversions.

Residents can report unsafe trenches, missing barricades or debris through the PMC CARE app or the PMC complaint helpline.

What is still not clear

The PMC has not published a road-by-road list of pending digging. It is also not clear how many private plots remain to be measured for the HCMTR. We will update this story after the next review.

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