Balewadi residents begin campaign against PSCDCL
There are several issues pending in Balewadi despite constant follow-up with government bodies and officials, say residents
The Balewadi Residency Cooperative Housing Federation Limited has initiated a campaign titled ‘Enough is Enough’ against the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) for being deprived of basic citizens’ rights including water, roads, footpaths, street lights and cleanliness.
The campaign banner reads, “It’s time for all of us to ask the administration and the concerned authorities why we are being taken for granted. Why we are being fooled under the name of ‘preferred smart city zone’? Why we are being deprived of basic citizens’ rights like water, roads, footpaths, street lights and cleanliness? Is this truly a smart city or a blown-up balloon?”
Ramesh Rokade, chairman of the federation, said, “This is a citizen’s agitation against all those who are taking honest taxpayers for granted. We have requested the societies to put up banners at their society gates to vent their frustration at the negligent way the smart city authorities are treating us.”
There are several issues pending in Balewadi despite constant follow-up with government bodies and officials. The residents are dealing with insufficient municipal water supply wherein they have had to purchase water tankers and spend crores of rupees. The roads are incomplete with no repairs wherever there are potholes. Footpaths are missing or existing ones are unclean or encroached. Several streets have no street lights whereas in some areas, the street lights are non-functional. “The federation has taken up the issues with the government departments and officials many a time but there has been no positive response. Hence the campaign,” Rokade said.
However, Sanjay Kolte, CEO, PSCDCL, said, “We are willing to hold a meeting with the residents to understand their problems, but we have, through our smart city mission plan, implemented projects such as the Balewadi road redesign of a 16.5 km stretch and LED street lights within the scope and resources of the smart city plan.”
“Other amenities are provided by the ward offices and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and there are a few issues along some stretches of the roads where landowners have not surrendered possession of their land to the PMC but those things are being followed up,” Kolte said.