Pune’s Mohammadwadi residents irked as RTI query goes unanswered

Hindustan Times: Pune: Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

Mohammadwadi residents are up in arms against the road department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and have demanded action for its failure to furnish information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act for a query that was registered seven months ago. The RTI query dated September 12, 2017, demanded information on the construction of the approach road starting from the Shankarrao Madhukar Ghule Patil road chowk till Ganga Florentina.

The first and second appeal filed by the area residents, led by Ganga Kingston residential society, have also gone unanswered, till date. PMC municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar could not be reached for comments.

Following PMC’s failure to reply to the RTI query, residents of various societies from the area lodged complaints with the state information commissioner and chief minister’s office citing that right to information was being muzzled by the municipal body.

Ganga Kingston housing society’s secretary Daljeet Goraya said that the they will use all legal options available, against PMC for not giving information under the RTI for the past seven months.

Meanwhile, the housing society has also filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking action against PMC administration, especially its municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar, for failing to provide a usable road to the 4,000 residents of the area. Residents staying in housing societies such as Ganga Kingston, Raheja Vista, Gemini Park and Ganga Florentina have been demanding a tarred road for the past seven years.

A major portion of the said road, which comes under the Development Plan (DP), has not been acquired till date, prompting area residents to complain about the same to the Prime Minister’s Office, chief minister’s office and the urban development (UD) department of the state and the central governments, seeking an early solution to their long standing problem. The road construction work had started on February 11 after Hindustan Times published a series of reports against PMC’s road department exposing its hollowness and lackadaisical attitude towards the residents’ woes. Residents say that the construction work is moving at a snail’s pace.

Daljeet Goraya, in his complaint, has sought registration of criminal cases against the builders who sold properties to the citizens, seven years ago, convincing the latter that there would be a proper approach road in place soon. However, till date no such land acquisition has taken place and the RTI query regarding road construction and land acquisition process has remained unanswered.

Goraya has also requested the director general of police (DGP) to investigate the reasons behind PMC’s reluctance to construct the approach road for seven years. “It looks as if the civic government was working against its own people with a selfish agenda”, he says. Till date, no RTI information, no public board regarding road construction and no letter regarding the land acquisition process has been sent to the Mohammadwadi residential societies.