Pune's Pavement Dwellers Fear Being Left Out Of SIR Over Lack Of Address Proof: 'Birth Certificate Means Nothing...'

Pune: For thousands of pavement dwellers in Pune, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has brought a familiar problem into sharper focus — how do you prove where you live when you have no house, no door number, and no permanent address?

While election officials are visiting housing societies and homes to verify voter details, pavement residents say the same process is difficult for them as they move between temporary sleeping spots and often lack documents such as electricity bills, registered rent agreements, or other address proofs.

'We have been sleeping on this same road...'

Santosh Gaikwad, 38, who has lived on the footpath near Pune Railway Station for nine years, said the verification process does not take into account the reality of pavement dwellers. “The government officers come to housing societies with voter lists, checking house numbers and flat doors. But what do they check for us -- our tarpaulin sheet on the footpath? We have been sleeping on this same road near Pune Station for nine years, but because we don’t have a door number to paint on, the system acts like we don’t exist in the city’s voter roll,” he said.

The problem is not limited to voter verification. Many pavement families struggle to obtain basic government documents because they cannot provide conventional proof of residence.

'How can a roadside family produce an electricity bill?'

Ramesh, 42, a roadside vendor and pavement dweller near Deccan Gymkhana, said he has his original birth certificate but has repeatedly been asked for an electricity bill, house papers, or a registered rent agreement while trying to update documents for his family. “How can a roadside family produce an electricity bill? They just say, ‘Come back when you have a permanent address proof.’ Having a birth certificate means nothing when the system refuses to see you,” he said.

Frequent evictions further complicate the situation. Dagdu Jay, 46, a pavement resident on Congress Road ahead of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Office, said anti-encroachment drives regularly force families to shift their belongings and sleeping locations. “If we are forced to shift from one side of the road to another every time there is a drive, how is any verification officer ever going to find us at the same sleeping site to verify our voting status?” he said.

'The rain and the mud treat us like stray animals'

Sunita Shinde, 34, who lives near Pune Station, said, “When it rains like this in Pune, everything gets destroyed. Our plastic sheets leak, the wood gets soaked so we can’t even light a fire to cook dinner for the family, and we sleep in wet clothes. We live like humans in the daytime, but at night, the rain and the mud treat us like stray animals.”

Meena, 29, a mother of two living near the PMC flyover, said, “When we went to enrol our 7-year-old daughter in the local municipal school, the administration kept demanding local proof of residence and linked Aadhaar cards. We managed to get her in after begging the headmaster, but without a fixed home, how does a child study under a street light when it’s pouring rain outside?"

'We will open up Form No. 6 for pavement dwellers'

Meanwhile, Minal Kalaskar, Deputy Collector and District Election Officer, Pune, said Form 6 would be opened for pavement dwellers after the SIR process, and a registration drive would be undertaken. “After the SIR work concludes, we will open up Form No. 6 for pavement dwellers and begin their registration drive. For individuals who hold their birth certificates, the enrolment process will move fast. For those who lack documents or have missing paperwork, we will have to figure out a viable solution. While we cannot include them in the ongoing SIR process right now, we will begin working directly on their cases once the draft electoral roll is published on August 24,” she said.

The second extension of the form distribution and verification phase is scheduled to end on August 17. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 24, followed by the claims and objections period until September 23. Hearings and disposal of claims and objections will continue until October 22, with the final electoral roll scheduled for publication on October 27.