Fed up with “apathy and incompetence” of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) in completing ongoing projects in Indirapuram, over 25,000 residents are planning to boycott voting in the upcoming general elections of 2019.
Owing to a continuous delay in ongoing development projects to lay sewers and Ganga water supply pipeline, the residents of Ahinsa Khand II are forced to use dilapidated Mall road for the past one year. Now, the residents have lost their patience.
“We won't vote if the situation in our area remains the same," a resident said.
In a meeting held on Thursday evening, the residents arrived on a decision to display hoardings of "No work, No vote" at their society gates in order to demonstrate their anger with the attitude of GDA.
The residents said that they want to convey their feelings to the contesting candidates, particularly General VK Singh who is an MP from Ghaziabad, that they are not happy with the sorry state of affairs. “To earn their vote in upcoming general election, the pending development projects should be finished at the earliest,” said another resident.
For the uninitiated, the Mall Road connects 22 societies and over 40,000 residents of Ahinsa Khand II to the other parts of the city. But for the past many months, the road has been in a state of chaos.
The road is in shambles and prone to accidents and traffic jams, said the residents.
“Just in the morning, I injured my foot when my scooty fell after bumping into a pothole on the road,” said Jayati Jain, a resident of Rishabh Cloud 9. "Accidents and damage to vehicles have become a daily affair on the road.”
"The road witnesses heavy traffic jams during the rush hours or when school buses enter the road. It’s so frustrating to get stuck in jam just immediately after exiting the society gates,” said Ashok Lavanya, a resident of Angel Jupiter society.
Since August, the work related to laying down of sewers and Ganga Jal pipeline is being going on in the area. The roads will be reconstructed only once the work is finished. For now, just a temporary filling has been done.
The present situation has added to the frustration of the residents who are already annoyed with the daily ruckus they have to face due to bad condition of the road.
Alok Kumar, president of federation of apartments owners association (FedAOA) welcomed this initiative by the residents. "It’s time that the residents take their anger outside WhatsApp groups and demonstrate their displeasure on the ground. I extend my support to them," he said.
Meanwhile, GDA officials refused to comment on the matter. City Spidey reached out to GDA secretary Santosh Rai and executive engineer RP Singh for the comments. While Rai kept refusing calls even after listening to the matter, Singh refused to comment on the delay in the completion of both the projects.
