Bhosari set to witness battle between BJP and NCP (SP)
On Monday, Gavhane filed his nomination in the presence of NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe and former MLA, Vilas Lande
All eyes are on the Bhosari assembly constituency where voters are set to decide between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sitting MLA, Mahesh Landge, of the Mahayuti alliance and Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (SP)’s Ajit Gavhane of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
On Monday, Gavhane filed his nomination in the presence of NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe and former MLA, Vilas Lande. Whereas Landge will file his nomination on Tuesday. Bhosari is a mix of industrial zones and growing urban areas and has unique concerns and challenges, making this election especially critical.
In the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections in the twin city, Landge and Lande had rebelled against their parties and won from the Bhosari seat as independent candidates. Lande had won as an independent candidate in 2009, defeating undivided NCP candidate Mangala Kadam and undivided Shiv Sena candidate Sulbha Ubhale. Later in 2014 after the ticket was denied by the NCP, Landge had fought as an independent candidate and defeated NCP sitting MLA Lande. In the 2019 election, Landge had fought as a BJP candidate and defeated Lande who was an independent candidate at the time.
During his 10-year-long tenure as an MLA, Landge was able to bring the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) into his assembly seat and in the coming days, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur will also be brought into his constituency. He played a key role in completing phase one of the Bhama Askhed project which helped residents get 100 MLD of water. The Bhosari constituency will soon get a court building, an 850-bed hospital in Moshi, and a Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissionerate in Chikhali for which ₹212 crore has been sanctioned.
However, Pimpri-Chinchwad still faces water scarcity with several housing societies depending on water tankers and alternate day supply. The growing population has caused traffic issues and key roads in the newly merged villages remain underdeveloped. Pollution is another major problem; both air- and river- water pollution.
Prakash Jukantwar, a resident of the Bhosari constituency, said that there is need to focus on the rising air and water pollution in Chikhali and Moshi. “Environment conservation and pollution control should be a priority of any elected MLA. Pollution leads to health issues and causes mortality and morbidity. Water is supplied on alternate days instead of daily and societies are depending on water tankers. Besides, there is discrimination when water is supplied by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC),” he said.
Sanjeevan Sangale, a resident of Chikhali, said that urbanisation has increased traffic congestion. “There are encroachments on pavements that need to be removed. The land in the merged villages that comes under the development plan (DP) has not yet been transferred by the landowners to the corporation. These villages lack proper drainage lines, stormwater lines and good roads. Also, the developers should not be permitted to construct until there is adequate water available for residents of new buildings,” Sangale said.
On his part, Landge claimed that citizens voted for him as he assured them of development and that over 80% of the promised work had been completed. “This year, citizens should vote for me and give me the opportunity to bring further development to this constituency. The issue of illegal property and homes was raised by me in the assembly which gave relief to over 90K property owners in Pimpri-Chinchwad and the penalty tax on illegal construction was waived off. The issues in the coming years are those of red zone areas and traffic…” Landge said.
Whereas Gavhane said, “I firmly believe that in order to bring the Bhosari assembly constituency back on the path of development, and make good for the losses of the last decade, a focused approach keeping in mind urban planning is required. My priority will be to resolve the water crisis which all of us have been battling for a long time.”
“For a city to thrive and the happiness index of the citizens to be high, it needs to be developed on all fronts. I want to make the city a green city with concerted efforts towards waste management, street cleanliness, beautification of public spaces, and sanitation amenities across the city. In the past few years, the safety of citizens has been ignored. I firmly believe that there should be special focus on security and safety in the Bhosari assembly constituency,” Gavhane said.