With Thane left crater-faced by the monsoon this election season, citizens are reminding ruling netas about their 'no-good-road-no-road-tax' promise before the TMC polls
The hoarding installed in Thane in 2017
The state BJP's slogan 'Good Roads or No Road Tax' has come back to haunt the state government, with residents of Thane and Navi Mumbai trolling Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for making false promises. The party faced backlash mostly from Thaneites, where the hoarding was installed in February 2017.
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The Thane residents, having suffered due to pothole-ridden roads for a long time, dug out a picture of a hoarding of Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the slogan promising quality roads. Fadnavis's message on the hoarding, written in Marathi, translates to — 'There will be super quality roads or there will be no road tax, this is my word'. Nothing has changed in two years since that hoarding came up, claimed Thane residents, as the state gears up for the Assembly election to be held on October 21. "Why can't they make good roads? Does it really need rocket science to have quality roads?" asked Paresh Koli, a resident of Thane.
Thane residents flooded the social media with videos, memes and messages of the bad roads, asking the Fadnavis government when they will get relief from roads riddled with potholes. Instead of solving the issue at the moment, senior politicians like Eknath Shinde are only making fake promises.
A pothole-ridden road in Thane. File pic
Kedar Dighe, a social worker and nephew of late Anand Dighe, a famous Shiv Sena leader, said, ""I would say there is no accountability. Concerned officers and contractors should be punished immediately and fined heavily. Ten days or a month won't help as people suffer due to pothole-ridden roads every year. Public needs to hit the road and protest against the shoddy job."
"If they bring the traffic to a standstill for even a day, the authorities would get the message that we won't tolerate the false promises anymore," he added. Residents have asked when will the CM fulfil the promises he made. Neither they give us good roads, nor they waive the taxes, and still expect us vote for them, complained the locals. Paresh Koli, a Thane resident said, "Forget about monsoon, we see the pothole-ridden roads every month. Everyone wants to fill their own pockets and win election by making fake promises. After winning, politicians don't even take a ride in their own constituency to check whether they have fulfilled the basic needs of the public."
BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar said, "I don't remember exactly when we installed the hoarding, but I agree there are many potholes on roads. I have just met with all the concerned officials and decided to fill all potholes before Navratri. This year, we received more rainfall than previous years, therefore, repair work could not happen properly. But, Thane residents will get pothole-free roads soon. Also I have requested that we stop collecting tolls if roads are not in good condition."
Also Read: 261 complaints in 48 hours on BMC's new pothole app
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