Irrespective of the parties and candidates campaigning through the streets seeking public support for the urban body elections, the residents of the city wish for a development oriented civic body rather than a political platform for the ambitious candidates.
They believe that issues remain unresolved term by term either due to political disturbances or lack of will among the authorities. They believe that the civic body should be as such that it focuses more on development rather than politics. “The previous tenure of Raipur Municipal Corporation passed as Municipal Corporation versus State Government conflicts as the Raipur mayor had belonged to Congress while the State Government is headed by the BJP. “The civic body did not seem to have enjoyed the autonomy and continuous intervention of State Government was apparent. Clean and Green city was mere a slogan than reality,” said a leading social activist Gautam Bandhopadhyay.
Dr Dilip Jain said public issues which needed immediate attention were overlooked. RMC failed to take any concrete remedial step to check dog menace despite frequent cases of dog bite reported from all parts of the city. The city lacks playgrounds and gardens to facilitate morning walkers and light exercise, essential for health of people. “Hope that the upcoming Mayor will focus on these aspects,” added Dr Jain. Ashutosh Mishra, advertisement film maker from city says sanitation of the city is not up to the mark and needs much improvisation. Outbreak of diseases like jaundice which resulted in death of several people also flattened the tall claims of RMC. Be it internal conflict of the Mayor and the corporators or any other dispute, it were the residents of the city who ultimately suffered.
Abhishek Upadhyay, an engineer from DD Nagar says disordered traffic and defunct traffic signals cause major problem while commuting in the city. The construction of roads in different parts of the city picked up pace only at the time of election. Road maintenance should have been carried out much earlier instead of doing it at the time of election, said Upadhyay. Rukhsar Parveen, student and resident of Pandri pointed towards the public transport which needs to be improved. She said that arrangements should be made for female passengers in public transport like city bus to provide secure and comfortable space while travelling. The flow of auto rickshaw is also concentrated on major routes of the city. If one has to move in little interior or outskirts of city then availability of safe transport become a difficult thing, added Parveen. Daneshwari Sambhakar, resident of Ravindra Nath Tagore ward says that basic amenities have been completely overlooked in ward. Due to lack of garbage bins people are forced to throw garbage in open thereby making sanitation difficult to maintain.