PUNE: Over 100 Wagholi residents on Friday took out a protest march to the local PMC office, demanding better roads and civic water supply to housing societies in the area.
For some years now, anger has been brewing against PMC and the police, both of which have been accused of ignoring issues like widespread water shortage and rampant wrong-way driving.
But the latest trigger has been the death of a schoolteacher, Supriya Dhobale, on January 9. According to protesters, Dhobale was riding a two-wheeler when she was hit by a vehicle at the entrance of the Ivy Estate road, killing her on the spot. The protesters lit candles at the site of Dhobale's accident and demanded the police do more to act against wrong-way driving and reduce congestion all along Nagar Road.
"They're doing close to nothing to stop traffic violations here. Many small junctions are without traffic signals or police personnel. We don't see any police presence. In fact, this is the most police I have seen," said one resident, pointing to the dozens of police personnel who had turned up to manage traffic movement during the protest.
Arijit Chatterjee, a resident of the Ivy Estate housing society and a member of a group of citizen volunteers manning traffic junctions, said, "The police were not penalizing enough rule-breakers. We had volunteered to guide traffic at the junctions, but motorists paid no heed to us as we don't have policing authority," he said, adding that the volunteer programme had run when traffic management was with rural police.
Another resident said one local official had even suggested residents pay for trained traffic marshals.
The residents also voiced their concerns against "complete privatization" of daily water supply. "We don't get civic water, despite paying tax. Every drop we get is through water tankers and housing societies are spending Rs 5-6 lakh every month on tankers," said R Ganesan, chairman of Nyati Elan.
Ganesan said sewage lines were a problem too, as well as approach roads. "This protest started from Bakori Phata. That road leads to at least 100 housing societies, but at places, it's no more than 10 feet in width. My own car went off the road once, and I had to be helped out by locals. We find it perplexing that PMRDA and PMC are handing out building permissions, despite the lack of amenities," he said.
High drama ensued later when the protesters trooped into the Wagholi PMC office, near Ramwadi. Residents sat down on the floor of the office, demanding to meet PMRDA authorities.
Ward office in-charge, Somnath Bankar (an assistant municipal commissioner), along with a few policemen, attempted to pacify the protesters, but many refused to budge. About an hour later, a few were taken to the local police station from where they were released soon after.
When contacted, Somnath Bankar, ward officer of the Nagar Road office, who received a memorandum from protesters, said, "I will discuss their problems with the PMC commissioner on Saturday. I have told the citizens to approach the PMRDA authorities as it is jurisdictional."
PMRDA commissioner Rahul Mahiwal said: "We are sorry to hear about the death of a teacher due to the bad condition of the road. We will float a fresh tender for road repair work. It will be done on priority. About water scheme, we have completed 75% of the project work and the remaining will be completed in three months."
Wagholi was brought under PMC limits in 2021. In 2019, the PMRDA had announced a water supply scheme for all of Wagholi. But work on the project is still unfinished.
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