PUNE: People often reach Dubai faster from Lohegaon than Hinjewadi .

About 2,000km away , the flight time to Dubai from Pune in this season is about three hours. Driving to Hinjewadi, barely 30km away, often takes longer. Bizarre but true. Techie Aniket Chorage (27), working in an IT company at Hinjewadi (Phase-3), experienced it on Tuesday evening when he went to drop a friend to the Lohegaon airport in his car.

Aniket's friend had to board a SpiceJet flight to Dubai.Its departure time was 8.15pm. After confirming his friend was comfortable in the aircraft around 8pm, Aniket left for his office in Hinjewadi. Before he could drive to his workplace, his buddy was out of the Dubai airport completing immigration and other formalities.

Recalling the late evening traffic frenzy, Aniket told TOI, “We reached the airport around 6.30pm on Tuesday and my friend got inside the terminal building for check-in. I waited outside until his formalities were over.“

The young man, a resident of Katraj , started for his office from the airport around 8pm af ter his friend told him over the phone the flight was on time.

“After driving 10 minutes along the Airport Road , I found it completely clogged. By the ti me I reached Yerawada, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic and hardly any vehicle was moving,“ the techie said.

“Around 11.10pm, I was in Baner — about 18km from the airport. I was pondering over my bitter driving experience for a little over three hours when I got a call from my friend. He told me that he was at the Dubai airport (around 2,053km from here). I didn't know how to react but we exchanged concerns over the city traffic,“ he said.

The SpiceJet authorities confirmed the flight reached Dubai around 23.00 hours IST (11pm) on Tuesday . Dubai international airport is among the world's busiest facilities with passenger traffic of 66 million a year and flights to over 260 destinations. A passenger takes almost half-an-hour to collect the baggage and go through the immigration after landing there.

Aniket could reach his workplace only around 11.40pm. “I am sure my friend had reached his home in Dubai by then,“ he retorted.

Aniket had to tackle congestion all through his way . There was traffic everywhere — be it Yerawada, Bund Garden, Karve Road or Chandani Chowk.

Traffic in Hinjewadi and Baner is always a concern for citizens. Ditto on the roads touching the airport.

“Earlier, I used to take my car to work but now I have switched to a two-wheeler because it is easier to manoeuver. Isn't it weird that I am taking threeand-a-half hours to reach Hinjewadi from the airport while another person is reaching Dubai before me?“ Aniket asked poignantly , triggering posers on the chaotic traffic.

