Hindustan Times: Nagpur: Monday, February 05, 2018.
Residents of
Ganga Kingston Co-operative Housing Society in Mohammadwadi are fighting a long
battle to gain information from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) under the
right to information (RTI) act, related to the unconstructed Shankarrao
Madhukar Ghule Patil road.
PMC, on its
part, has still not given any detailed information on the road project,
residents alleged. The first RTI application by the society seeking information
on the road details was submitted to the public information officer (PIO) on
September 15, 2017, and till date no proper reply has been received.
The society
had sought details of the road construction from Raheja Vista to Ganga Kingston
co-op housing society, wherein 10 specific questions were asked.
The residents
sought the following in their RTI application: did the PMC sanction the road
construction from Raheja Vista to Ganga Kingston and beyond in
Undri-Mohammadwadi; the year in which the permission was granted; reasons
behind the pendency of road construction over the past years; photocopies of
the road map and PMC’s entire communication related to the road work;
objections (if any) raised regarding the road construction; was the civic body
under any pressure from some quarters because of which it was delaying road
construction?
The residents
have also resorted to online campaigns through social media platforms like
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp and even lodged complaints on the
grievance redressal portal of the civic body to highlight their problems.
Surprisingly,
instead of getting replies on time, society chairman Daljeet Goraya received
calls from officials claiming to be from the PMC road department, in the month
of October-November, who promised that the work would start within 10 days and
asked him to withdraw the RTI application.
Goraya
received a late written reply from the PMC land acquisition department (PIO) on
November 19, 2017, stating that his application has been forwarded to the road
department for action.
“I received
the reply two months after I filed the first RTI. Instead of giving me the
exact information on the road, it was stated that it has been forwarded. I then
filed the first appeal before the PMC seeking the crucial information. However,
they failed to provide us the exact information which is our right,” he said.
On November
29, 2017, Ganga Kingston Society received an interesting response which stated,
“The estimated cost of the project has been approved and tenders have been
invited. After the tender is properly approved the road department will start
the work.”
The society,
under the chairmanship of Goraya, has now filed a second appeal with the chief
information commissioner for Pune Region as they are not satisfied with the
response. “Instead of providing us our basic right to information and our legal
right to road, the PMC is hiding information on the issue. Instead of protecting
our rights, it is going on the back foot on this crucial issue. This needs an
investigation,” he said.
Mayor Mukta
Tilak did not respond to HT despite several attempts to contact her.
Meanwhile, a
massive signature campaign will be carried out by all the area residents to
demand early construction of the road in the area. A number of civil society
organisations and legal experts are ready to take up the issue given the
pathetic and anti-people attitude of the PMC, said Sanjay Shinde, a regular
visitor to the area.
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