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Water shortage, lack of developed roads, garbage woes: Wagholi residents want an end to their civic problems
Two lakh residents are fighting for their civic rights under the Wagholi Housing Societies Association (WHSA) alleging serious lack of planning and vision by the Pune Metropolitan and Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in providing them with the necessary civic amenities
Residents of Wagholi are facing problems of water shortage, incomplete drainage infrastructure, lack of construction of sanctioned development plan (DP) roads, non-lifting of garbage and slow pace work of garbage processing plants from the past one year. Two lakh residents are fighting for their civic rights under the Wagholi Housing Societies Association (WHSA) alleging serious lack of planning and vision by the Pune Metropolitan and Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in providing them with the necessary civic amenities. The residents are planning to hold a massive protest outside the PMRDA and irrigation department headquarters to press for their water and civic infrastructure demands.
The PMRDA is in charge to provide all civic amenities in Wagholi, while the gram panchayat carries out the development work on its behalf.
Sanjeev Kumar Patil, Director, WHSA said, that the situation in Wagholi is grim as the administration maintains that they need approval from the government for various projects, while the elected representatives who form the government say that they do not get funds and permissions from the government. “We feel that there is a complete governance deficit owing to alleged large scale corruption of past few decades which has rendered administrative ineffectiveness in Wagholi,” he said.
Nitin Kumar Jain, another WHSA member said that PMRDA water quota for Wagholi is an issue, as the quota has not been approved. “We heard that the file which was sent to the mantralaya for approval but it was called back by a senior official from the irrigation department. We want the PMRDA to come up with a holistic plan for the area failing which Wagholi will become a cesspool of urban sprawl and there will be no progress due to bad planning,” he said.
Madhukar Date, Wagholi village development officer said that the gram panchayat was providing good amenities to the citizens. “The construction work and commissioning of garbage processing plants will be completed soon and we are also constructing internal roads and drainages,” he said.
However, residents are unfazed and said that the gram panchayat was working for the rich people and never bothered to come up with a development plan for Wagholi “ The area is dying a slow death and would resemble to be a cemetery in the days to come due to lack of water, electricity, drainage and all the necessary social and human infrastructure ,” said Manjusha Khandve, a resident of Bakori.
