Devious babus attempt to stifle NOTA threat in Navi Mumbai

Over a hundred housing societies in Panvel assembly constituency that threatened to opt for NOTA None Of The Above were on Thursday called for a public meeting by the Election Commissions local assistant returning officer The residents who live across Kharghar Kalamboli Kamothe and Panvel refused to attend the meetingmidday was the first to report on October 15 about how various housing societies were galvanising support for NOTA as the local administration and the sitting MLA had failed to deliver basic amenities like clean water good roads and good air quality The Panvel constituency is among the states biggest with 55 lakh eligible votersOn October 16 a day after middays report residents in several neighbourhoods noticed repair work begin out of the blue but remained firm on their decisionAt 2 pm on Thursday October 17 CIDCO sent a message and an email to just one person mdash Mangal Kamble president of the umbrella Swach Kharghar Foundation mdash calling everyone for a meeting with the returning officer at 4 pm to discuss their boycott callResidents of Tapaswi Aradhana housing society with a banner stating they will opt for NOTAThe letter signed by Kedaree Jadhav Joint Registrar Cooperative Societies CIDCO read Societies under Panvel Municipal Corporation are being informed that the assistant returning officer tehsildar and subdivisional magistrate Panvel have learnt that people have called for a boycott of elections as they are unhappy about civic facilities and some cooperative societies have put banners on their main entrance opposing the elections This is a serious issue and CIDCO has been asked to intervene and take necessary measures so the public view can be changedResidents immediately spotted the mischief and deviousness in the wording of the notice We never called for a boycott a furious Kamble told midday We asked people to come out in large numbers and vote for NOTA to express their dismay over poor civic facilities It is wrong of the officials to twist the meaning of our campaign It is evident that officials were working under pressure They should clarify the same Also how is it possible to attend a public meeting on a working day with two hours noticeA very highly placed serving state electoral officer told midday that junior officials were wrong and there is a clear difference between a call for boycott and a call to vote NOTA The concerned official who wrote the letter should clarify the context in which he used the word boycott he said NOTA is a valid option available to voters which they can rightfully exercise if they wish toReturning Officer Dattu Nawale and CIDCO officials were among those left redfaced as nobody turned up for the meeting Nawale said CIDCO will address citizens concerns after results are announced on October 24 He also tried to explain away the notice saying he read the words No Vote on the posters to infer that residents had called for a boycottWe saw the poster in newspaper reports saying No Service No Vote or No Development No Vote and decided to take up the matter he saidJadhav who signed the letter meanwhile tried to blame the typist It seems the typist in a hurry had made a mistake of using the word boycott which was not intended he saidAsked why he sent the letter to just one person Jadhav said they were in a hurry to act on the directions of the assistant returning officer We have 9000 cooperative societies registered and a formal letter to each society would have taken over a week and not served any purpose he saidLetter SKF wrote to CIDCO and ROIt was very kind of you to reply to our letter and show concern over the matter of the present scene on the election We highly respect your gesture to arrange a meeting between CIDCO joint registrar and society representative so as to resolve issues Since the intimation is in very short notice many members will not be able to attend the meeting Sir we need your kind support even postelection Below are our grievances which can be conveyed to CIDCO Water Water is a basic necessity of all residents and supplying water in adequate quantity to all these residents is the core responsibility of CIDCO while planning of any residential area Fortunately rainwater in Konkan areas is in sufficient quantity and can cater to the water supply requirement of areas like Kharghar and all other areas under CIDCO jurisdiction It is therefore CIDCO who has to come in action and take new measures and tap the bottlenecks of current water supply in order to supply enough water to all these areas for the period not only prior to elections but post the results of elections and forever Road Roads in Kharghar under Panvel constituency were in bad shape prior to the monsoon to start with And there was enough time available to CIDCO to start the repairing of these roads When the protests of citizens increased over boycotting the elections and visit of Prime Minister Sir the work of repairing these roads on a temporary basis has begun on warfooting in a single day at majority areas just to appease the residents It is therefore CIDCO who has to come in action immediately and instead of repairing the roads temporarily repair these roads with better quality and durability in all the sectors including all internal service roads Footpath Similarly like roads footpaths are not maintained in the entire region of Kharghar coming under Panvel Constituency CIDCO has not yet started to repair the damaged footpaths In fact the work of repairing these footpaths has to be taken up immediately Basic Infrastructure like signals parking etc Hence at this juncture organising a meeting with society representatives and CIDCO for basic needs like water roads footpath of general public will not help CIDCO resolve their water supply management In fact in this election period this meeting will worsen the current situation of boycotting the elections Already residents of this nodes are financially overburdened to pay the retrospective property tax imposed by Panvel Mahanagar Palika To have major turnout for these elections immediate repairs and solutions is an opportunity with CIDCO to win the hearts of general public Instead last moment meeting will aggravate the citizens We can take the matter further post electionsRegardsMangal KamblePresident SKFCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates