Voters raise local issues through their manifestos

With the Maharashtra Assembly polls just around the corner, residents of Pune have drafted their own set of demands as part of "citizens' manifestos" to highlight basic issues, and have urged candidates to address them in their manifestos.

Key concerns dominating these charter of demands include lack of proper water supply, poor road infrastructure, encroachments, traffic snarls, improper sewage systems, noise pollution, frequent power outages, and the need for the implementation of development plans (DPs).

Residents of Mohammadwadi and Undri in south Pune, under the aegis of a local welfare forum, have created their manifesto to address the long-standing civic issues related to inadequate water supply, frequent power outages, traffic problems, waste disposal and management, encroachments, and lack of police patrolling at night.

They claim that more than 18 years have passed without reliable basic amenities in more than 60 housing societies across the area, especially when it comes to water supply.

With no piped water from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), these societies have been forced to rely on private water tankers, collectively spending crores annually.

Sunil Aiyer, resident of Nyati Chesterfield, a high-end bungalow society perched on a hilltop in Undri, claimed he has lived in the area for more than 20 years without seeing an appreciable improvement in basic amenities.