Punekars unhappy with civic bodies despite absence of political leaders
The civic bodies have failed to make the kind of impact that citizens were expecting in the absence of political leaders
While several municipal corporations including the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are being run by the administration for the last six months, they have failed to make the kind of impact that citizens were expecting in the absence of political leaders.
Civic activist Vivek Velenkar said, “It is true that the administration has lost the chance to carry out good work. Under normal circumstances whenever we raise any issue, the common answer given by the administration is that nothing is being done due to political pressure. Currently however, there are no local leaders but tenders are being passed in the same way as they were earlier. Recently, we opposed spending on mobile immersion tanks but the administration spent the taxpayers’ money.”
Bank employee Satish Vaidya said, “When the municipal commissioner initiated the drive against encroachment, we hoped that something good would come out of it now that there are no corporators. However, we are now hearing that action is being taken only against select people. It shows that the administration, too, is corrupt.”
Parag Shinde from Pimpri-Chinchwad said, “Even in Pimpri, no major change has been carried out under the administration. Ideally, we were hoping for better works, encroachment-free footpaths etc.”
Congress leader Arvind Shinde said, “Recently, we wrote a letter and asked for some information. It is observed that the administration is approving select building plans and taking some policy decisions that are not in the interest of citizens.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sandeep Khardekar said, “Usually, citizens would criticise political leaders and level allegations for all sorts of things. Now there are no political representatives in the PMC but are the citizens experiencing good governance? Many works related to nullahs, potholes, the condition of roads, water supply are not being carried out but no one is blaming the administration for the same.”
Whereas a contractor on condition of anonymity said, “I have been working with the PMC for the last 10 years. We thought that as the elected members are not there, we will need to offer less bribes but the ratio has not changed. For approving every work, contractors need to pay the officials.”