Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) has fast-tracked tunnelling and excavation work in the underground section of the Pune Metro rail project. Despite the challenges, the underground tunnel has progressed. Of the two tunnel-boring machines, one has crossed 200 metres beyond Shivajinagar station, while the other is 20 metres past the location. The machines will now reach Civil Court via Simla office chowk and CoEP ground. There are only 1,000 workers on duty at the Metro sites across the city, compared to the pre-lockdown strength of 2,800. MahaMetro has reached out to the respective district administrations in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh after some workers expressed a desire to return to Pune, and even the labour contractors, attached to the project, are working on bringing the labour force back to the work sites.