Amid freebies and accusations, development issues take backseat in election campaign
Development issues crucial to Pune and its surrounding rural areas are conspicuously absent from the current election campaign,say citizens
Pune: The development issues crucial to Pune and its surrounding rural areas are conspicuously absent from the current election campaign. Leaders from all political parties seem focused on promises of freebies and levelling accusations at one another, leaving topics like infrastructure and public services on the sidelines.
In previous elections, candidates always highlighted civic and developmental issues, often pressing each other for solutions. This year, however, such topics are overshadowed by discussions on populist schemes.
The city faces numerous challenges, including delayed projects like the Ring Road, new international airport at Purandar, and long-standing law and order concerns related to the koyta gang and road rage, traffic discipline, frequent jams, inadequate public transport, expansion of the Metro, noise pollution from DJ systems, and flooding. Additionally, the issues like redevelopment of old wadas, poor implementation of slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) schemes, population growth in slums, encroachment, garbage management, and poor roads in merged villages remain unaddressed.
Citizens said that with the absence of elected representatives in municipal corporations and zilla parishads for the past three years, there was an expectation that both ruling and opposition parties would address these issues. “However, political alliances like the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi are instead vying over who can promise more freebies,” said Amit Pethe of Kothrud.
Currently, campaign speeches focus on populist schemes, including the Ladki Bahin plan, which offers ₹1,500 per month to women, free travel for senior citizens, half-price tickets for women, free education for girls, free homes, free electricity, and similar programmes.
Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch said, “As political parties are ignoring real issues, we hosted a discussion on these problems. We invited speakers to talk about pressing issues like education, road quality, inflated toll rates, environmental protection, health, and urban flooding.”
Jugal Rathi, also from Sajag Nagrik Manch, said, “Political parties are avoiding real issues like unemployment and poor public transport. At our seminar, we discussed these points and, as voters, we now need to prepare a memorandum to ask candidates about their plans for these challenges.”
Nitin Vaidya, a voter, said, “We understand that parties feel compelled to announce popular schemes, but they should also consider that about 60% of the city’s population doesn’t benefit from these. Middle and upper-middle-class citizens simply expect reliable public transport, road safety, encroachment-free footpaths, and strong inter and intra-city transit. Many local students study abroad and face difficulties traveling to Mumbai for flights, underlining the need for international flights at Pune airport.”
