For aspirants, ex-corporators, no election means no public service

Despite having the constitutional provision to have more participation of citizens and elected representatives in the democratic process, the elected members have been out of their local self-government role in Maharashtra, affecting the civic works.

However, at the same time, the former corporators and those aspiring to become public representatives in future have stopped reaching out to citizens and their issues. The aspirants and residents said that those aiming to be corporators have largely been inactive as they see no political gain in their efforts.

Many offices of former corporators were either found to be empty or closed. A former corporator said on condition of anonymity that addressing citizen issues or even carrying out a minor public work helped in maintaining a network of workers, and money had to be spend. “The political workers, however, are smart and stop accompanying you if you are no longer a corporator or do not spend money. That is why most offices of former corporators are empty these days,” he said.

“We must accept that there is a difference between an elected representative and a politician without any position such as corporator. If we are representing people in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the civic administration has to listen to us. However, with our term over, the administration has been indifferent,” said Vishal Tambe, former corporator from Nationalist Congress Party.

The term of Tambe, along with 162 corporators, ended on March 14, 2022 as the state election commission did not hold polls. For two years since then, there are no signs of polls even as the municipal commissioner has been ruling the Pune civic body as an administrator and presented the more that ₹11,000 crore budget for 2024-25.

According to Tambe, many public representatives even after their term was over, used to follow up various issues on behalf of citizens but the civic officers have stopped responding to their requests and the administration has failed to carry out developmental works.

“Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar presented the budget for last three years without corporators. The irony is that he himself has not been able to achieve the target. Earlier, they used to blame the elected members for fund diversion, but now the administration has failed to execute plans,” he said.

Amit Deshpande of Sadashiv Peth said that former public representatives will once again become active once the civic polls are announced.

“As of now, there are no polls in sight and, therefore, the political workers are also least bothered about citizen issues,” he said.

“It is true that we as political leaders are also facing problems since last two years. We are not elected representatives, but citizens still expect us to help them resolve local issues. Our problem is that we do not have the budget to carry out public works. We have to follow it up with officers as we do not have the power to raise these issues in the PMC general body meeting,” said Varsha Tapkir, former BJP corporator from Dhankawdi.

According to Tapkir, underground electric cable work has halted in many parts of the city with citizens facing drainage line issues. “Yet, I cannot raise it beyond a point,” she said.

Avdhoot Kulkarni of Pashan said that earlier citizens and media used to blame political leaders for corruption and poor works. With the administration ruling PMC for two years and despite their failure to deliver, neither citizens nor media are talking much about it.

“The administration has failed to deliver amidst alleged cases of corruption in the past two years. Earlier, there was an assumption that only elected members should be blamed for corruption, but incidents of officials caught accepting bribe has changed that,” said Congress leader Arvind Shinde.

He was referring to a recent incident of cash found at the road department’s office forcing the civic chief to order probe.

NCP city unit president and former corporator Prashant Jagtap said, “Under the administrator’s rule, the city has gone three years back. On the one hand, the city is expanding and developing fast, but the civic administration has failed to provide requisite infrastructure. Without elected members, the administration is not in a position to take any policy decision. There are very few policy making decisions taken in the city in the last two years.”

Civic activist Vivek Velankar blamed the administration as well as the elected members. He said, “The administrator and commissioner failed completely. At least the elected members were better as they were answerable. But now, the administration has done nothing. Irony is that not a single political party or former elected representative has raised voice against the administration. Though they were not in the house, at least they should have raised issues, criticised the administration or held agitations, but nothing has happened since last two years.”