Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Residents of Panchvati Colony are having a hard time struggling for the most basic amenities that make a place liveable. Poor construction—and lack of maintenance—of roads make mobility within the colony premises difficult. Even when the road and maintenance tax is paid regularly by the residents, neither of these facilities is made available to them. While the builder has made space available for the construction of roads, Indore Municipal Corporation asks for public contribution for constructing and maintaining the roads on the grounds that it is a covered campus.
“Water resources minister Tulsiram Silawat has got many projects done in the colony, such as construction of cemented roads, improvement of drainage lines and street lighting. But it’s a very large colony and will take some time to overcome the problems,” says Sushma Patel, resident, Panchvati Colony.
Roads connecting the houses are in a very bad condition. The rugged roads in the locality make it difficult for people to walk or drive vehicles on them; even the space between houses is narrow. Sand, rocks, pebbles and iron rods decorate the street of the colony as construction work keeps going on all over the campus.
Bharat Saxena, another resident, says, “The infrastructure of the society was very strong around the time that I became a permanent resident here. But, due to poor management, the conditions of the society have worsened.”
One resident informed Free Press that the developer built asphalt roads in the colony, but the quality was very poor. Also, the quality of underground water lines, drainage lines, electricity cables and so on used during the development of the colony was very poor. The developer sold a major part of the colony to investors. The developer, who was also responsible for the maintenance of the colony, never took any interest in its maintenance. While selling the plot, the developer had taken a one-time maintenance charge on the condition that this amount would be fixed and deposited in the bank and the colony would be maintained through the interest that would accrue.
Vehicles coming from Niranjanpur and wrong parking in the area create chaos around the locality. The residents have appealed to the municipal corporation that the intersections where the road dividers have been closed should be opened by installing temporary metal barriers so that smaller vehicles, such as two-wheelers and cars, can pass through. But the appeal has not been entertained.
OP Shakergaye, yet another resident, says, “We’ve appealed to IMC to construct new roads, but they say public support and contribution will be required. Since no one is ready to pay, we have no solution.”
Water supply issues
Even though a Narmada water connection has been provided to the colony, residents claim that the water pressure is always low and water supply is infrequent. As a result, they pay a certain amount to IMC so that water tankers are made available to them. Residents have built individual borewells that help them quench their thirst in summer.
Tall claims fall flat
Residents claim that false promises were made about the availability of an i-bus service. In reality, the availability of transport facilities provided to them is a bare minimum. Patel says that, ever since the i-bus service started, the service of city buses running from Panchvati has also stopped. There were many demands to extend the i-bus service up to Panchvati and the administration gave an assurance every time but the i-bus is still absent. One reason for this is also the jam between the Niranjanpur intersection and Panchvati.
‘Disputes within’
‘Disputes within the society make it difficult for all of us to work towards better management. None of the residents is interested to collectively resolve the disputes’ — Bharat Saxena, resident, Panchvati Colony
‘Earnest appeal’
‘We want to appeal to the organisations responsible to provide us with basic services, such as those of transport, water and, most importantly, new roads’ — OP Shakergaye, resident, Panchvati Colony
‘Lying in ruins’
‘Due to poor quality and lack of maintenance, the roads, water lines, underground tanks, drainage lines, underground electrical system, and boundary walls are ruined. Overhead and underground tanks and the pipelines were never made functional by the developer’ — Sushma Patel, resident, Panchvati Colony
