Abysmal electoral representation main reason for poor development of certain nodes in Kharghar: KTCWA

Abysmal electoral representation, especially during civic elections, is suggested to be the primary cause for the poor developmental state of Kharghar Sectors 26 - 38, claimed the Kharghar-Taloja Colonies Welfare Association (KTCWA), which undertook extensive study of the problems ailing the nodes.

Residents of the node have been vocal about the lack of civic amenities in the area.

During the course of three weeks, its team comprising 15 members compared more than 50 parameters to ascertain the nature of civic issues being faced. Disrupted water supply, ill-maintained internal roads, no allocation of land for playgrounds, no policy to prevent encroachment on open plots were some of the issues highlighted.

“In spite of having several premium housing projects, the infrastructural issues in this node, when compared to other parts of Kharghar, are of severe nature. As per the electoral list released last year by the government, there are only 18,000-odd registered voters in this area. Considering there are 110 residential societies, an estimated two lakh residents are residing in these societies, yet only 10% are featuring in voters list. That is very disturbing. This also explains the total disinterest among the existing corporators to address any of our issues as their primary voters happen to be from rural parts,” said Mangesh Ranawade, chairman of the association.

In the 2017 ward structure, Sectors 26 - 29 along with Taloja Phase 1, 2 and village parts were incorporated under Ward 3.

“For infrastructure to develop and corporators to take active interest in the development of the area, it is necessary that the voter ratio from urban parts should show some increase in the upcoming civic elections. Residents ought to take efforts to get their names listed in the electoral data,” said Ateeq Khan, another resident from Kharghar Sector 35E.

Local corporator, Azeez Patel, refuted the association’s analysis of poor voter ratio preventing developmental works. “It’s improper to say that we are not looking into the requirements of the urban area. There is no such bias. Since most residents are tenants, the registered voters are on the lower side but we do undertake regular drives to get new voters registered,” said Patel.