No road, no vote, chant Ggm locality residents
Over 300 residents of newly developed colonies in Sector 37C and D, on Sunday, protested against the poor condition of basic civic infrastructure— roads, streetlights, water and sewer lines—in the area and announced that all eligible voters there would boycott the state assembly elections, scheduled for October 21.
Residents from Corona Optus society, Takshshila Heights, ILD Greens, Imperia Esferia, BPTP Park Serene, NBCC Green View, and Ramprastha City marched on the sector dividing road with placards and banners reading ‘No Road, No Vote’ and ‘No Work, No Vote’. They said they would not vote in the assembly elections because of the “gross negligence” of their sector.
Protesters rued that though they have paid hundreds of crores of rupees as external development charges, no development work was being done by the government. “We have paid so much money for the facilities, but we are being denied the same,” resident and protestor Naveen Mann said.
According to the residents’ welfare association of the area, around 12,000 residents live in these condominiums, of whom 7,000 are eligible voters. The protestors said that all these people have been suffering for years because of poor infrastructure.
“We have been facing a lot of civic issues. We have visited various government agencies and elected representatives (MLA Badshahpur Rao Narbir Singh), but nothing has worked for us. The main road in the sector is in particularly bad shape. So, we have decided to boycott the polls,” Pradeep Rahi said.
The protesters stated that one side of the main sector road, dividing 37C and D, has remained waterlogged for months now. “This road was built in patches and though some parts are in litigation, the entire road is in very bad shape. There are waterlogging, potholes and uneven patches that make it non-motorable. A part of the road is used to illegally park trucks,” resident Kuldeep Chauhan said.
“The developers release rainwater on the roads, which causes waterlogging and this damages the roads,” said Sachin Kumar, a resident of Ramprastha City. He added that around 50% of roads in the newer sectors were yet to be built as land has not been acquired for the construction of 24-metre roads.
Residents also complained that were no working sewer or stormwater pipelines in the sector. They said that though pipelines have been built, they were yet to be connected to the master sewer line. Residents added that streetlights on the main and internal roads, both, were nonexistent.