Lavale to boycott elections till shoddy road gets repaired

For the past three years, a 9-km stretch connecting Lavale Phata and Sus Gaon has been in a shambles, making life a misery for residents. Tired of trying to get officials — from MPs, MLAs, ministers and the public works department (PWD) — to take notice of their plight, residents have now decided to boycott elections till the road is fixed.

Villagers had also conducted a protest at the PWD office in Pune and were assured that repairs would be carried out. But nothing came of it and villagers have now threatened to shut down the office if their problem is not resolved within the next eight days.

Adding to their misery, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) also informed villagers that the bus service will be stopped as the condition of the road is leading to damage of the vehicles and drivers face it difficult to navigate on this road. As many as 15,000 villagers in Lavale and around 25,000 in the surrounding area of Pirangut, Chande, Nande, Ghotawde, etc, use this road daily to commute and are now determined to use any means at their disposal to get the road repaired.


The decision to boycott the elections was taken at a recent meeting of the Lavale gram panchayat. Swati Gaikwad, sarpanch of Lavale village, said, “This was the only option left to us and we have decided to boycott all the elections. This is an ISO village-certified village, yet we have been running from pillar to post for the last three years just to get a road repaired. We have also held protests at several offices, but still the authorities have not taken any cognisance. At the last protest, the PWD officials said that they would start road work within eight days. That was over two months ago and nothing has been done.”

Gaikwad added, “Every time we ask PWD authorities, they claim that the work has been allotted and Rs 32 crore paid, but the contractor is not available. The road is in no condition to be used. On top of this, the authorities have given permission for cables to be laid, due to which the stretch is now peppered with open trenches.”

Dhondiba Kedari, former sarpanch and a member of the gram panchayat, added, “We want the work done and the road repaired immediately. If this doesn’t happen within a week, we are going to shut down the PWD office. The stretch is nothing but a mass of potholes and trenches and there is barely any light. This is leading to accidents every day.”


Kedari added, “Three deaths have occurred already on this road. Also, one cannot reach the hospital during a medical emergency. One of our own gram panchayat members, Sanjay Gawde, was going to hospital for treatment when he met with an accident due to the potholes and died due to a head injury. Women have even given birth to babies in autos on their way to hospital.”

Ganesh Shitole, a resident of Lavale, echoed, “A couple of months ago, PMPML sent us a letter saying that the bus service will be stopped due to the condition of the road. Around 500 students and 1,500 villagers use the bus service to travel to Pune every day. What are we to do if the only form of public transport gets shut down?”
When contacted, several of the officials claimed to be unaware of the situation. Naval Kishor Ram, Pune district collector, said, “I am unaware about this problem, but we will definitely look into this and I will inquire with the respective offices. There was a similar problem in Kirkitwadi and the district administration has resolved it.”

Smita Patil, block development officer of the area, said, “That road doesn’t come under the ambit of the Zilla Parishad administration, but under PWD. I will speak to the PWD engineer of this area and inform him to at least get the potholes filled in immediately.”

On the other hand, Dhananjay Deshpande, executive engineer, PWD and in-charge of the area, rued, “We are aware about the problem, but the department is not at fault. The work on this road was stuck in the tender process for the past one year without a single taker. The tender has been allotted by PWD now and the development work will start in eight days.”

Deshpande added, “This is a huge project and the state government will spend around Rs 200 crore for road development in this area. The Lavale-Sus Road, Ghotawde-Hinjawadi Phase III and Mhalunge-Chande- Nande road will be developed under it. Since it is such a massive undertaking, the tender process took some time.”