‘Not enough questions raised as per promises made in manifestos’

Bikers navigate potholes on Bandongri service road at Western Express Highway, Kandivli. File pic

An analysis of the manifestos issued by political parties before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in 2017 by Praja Foundation has revealed that corporators have not been much concerned about the civic issues and enthusiastic about looking into the complaints raised by citizens. The foundation in its report has analysed the performance of all parties based on the questions raised by them in meetings related to the promises they had made before the previous election.

Five years back the Shiv Sena, BJP, NCP and Congress had issued manifestos, which promised better civic facilities. Praja Foundation released an audit report of these manifestos on Thursday. The report not only audited the promises made by the Sena but also those by the BJP, NCP and Congress.

Piles of garbage seen on the seashore at Mahim. File pic

The Sena had promised pothole-free roads. About 46,235 complaints were registered on the same from April 2017 to March 2021. But Sena corporators raised only 146 questions during the period. Similarly, the BJP had promised to provide water round-the-clock. However, in 2020, out of the 290 areas in Mumbai, 204 got water for only four hours and the party corporators raised only 101 questions on the issue in four years.

The maximum number of civic complaints was about sewage issues. The BMC received 75,915 complaints, but none of the parties were found to have given enough weightage to the problem. Only 4 per cent (136 out of 3,510) of total deliberations were on drainage. Some of the major political parties had promised improvement in Solid Waste Management (SWM) and better collection of garbage. However, 54,029 SWM complaints were registered, of which 40 per cent were related to non-collection of garbage. The political parties raised only 8 per cent (287) of the total questions on the subject.

Speaking to mid-day, Director of Praja Foundation, Milind Mhaske, said, "Despite promises made to solve issues related to potholes, water supply, hawkers and so on, deliberations on them have not been adequate. The proportion of questions asked by major political parties on issues related to potholes was only 2 per cent. The percentage of questions raised by them on water supply is only about seven. Similarly, only 4 per cent of the total questions was regarding hawkers though some of the major parties had promised a policy and special zones for them."