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Pune residents release area-specific poll manifestos
Manifesto stresses on elaborate amendment to environment protection, civic rights and job reservation for women
Residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pimpri-Chinchwad Cooperative Housing Societies Federation have come together to release a citizens’ manifesto. The manifesto was released on Monday.The residents have requested the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections to make note of the residents list of demands. Pimpri-Chinchwad comes under Maval constituency.
The manifesto states the duties of the local body, their failures to provide civic services and problems by the residents.
Sudhir Deshmukh, member of Pimpri-Chinchwad Cooperative Housing Societies Federation said, “We want the local bodies to enable citizen governance. This means the citizens should have a right to seek termination or transfer of civic employees, right to file a case against civic employees for neglecting duties and deliberate delay in work.”
According to Deshmukh, the manifesto also mentions defining of urban areas on population basis. Villages should be merged into corporation limits or form a separate corporation if the population of the village crosses one lakh.
The manifesto also stressed upon having elaborate amendment of the Environment Protection Act and inclusion of new Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for environment related crimes. Deshmukh said, “Environment laws are ineffective in creating a deterrent and with low conviction rates the violators have become fearless of the law. The various central and state environment related laws need immediate amendments to be considered as a formidable deterrent. Police should take immediate action on violations of environment laws.”
The residents say that they are struggling for basic needs like water, roads and waste management. The manifesto proposes that water supply, electricity, roads, garbage collection and public transport should come under Essential Services Act and must be responsibility of state and the local body.
Wagholi residents release ‘sense of citizens’
Demanding the restoration of Wagholi, residents’ of the area have released a manifesto, called the ‘Sense of citizens’.
According to residents’, restoring Wagholi has become the need of the hour, as they have been fighting for basic amenities for the past five years.
“This year, the Lok Sabha elections will be a fight for basic amenities against votes. It is the duty of the elected candidates to look into the issues that residents face,” said Harcharanjeet Butalia member of the Wagholi Housing Societies Association.
The manifesto states that though the state government has issued a merger notification of 34 villages into Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Wagholi has not been included in that list.
As a result, the local government body has failed to provide civic amenities to residents. The manifesto also states that Wagholi has been urbanised and can no longer be called a village. Hence, it has become essential to merge Wagholi in PMC or create a separate nagar parishad by merging other nearby villages.
Sandesh Lokhande, a resident of Wagholi said, “The candidates contesting the elections should understand the public sentiment. If issues are seriously taken up by candidates, residents will benefit. Moreover, we are a generation of solutions, committed to build a better future for Wagholi.”
The manifesto further highlights the immediate need to look into traffic congestion on Nagar road, disposal of garbage, water distribution and lack of proper drainage system. The manifesto also states that the gram panchayat and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) have collectively failed to construct internal roads.
