The Pune unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), along with citizens of Dhayari village and the Sinhagad Road area, is set to stage a peaceful hunger strike on Republic Day (January 26) to protest the administration's inaction on the pending Development Plan (DP) roads and the worsening traffic congestion. The protest, organised by an all-party citizen group, will take place at Umbarya Ganpati Chowk, Last Bus Stop, Dhayari, from 10am to 5pm.
Dhananjay Benkar, city president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), speaking to The Free Press Journal, said, "Around 1,000 citizens, including 500 women and 500 men, are expected to participate. For the past 28 years, the DP roads in Dhayari village have been stalled with no resolution in sight. Despite being planned for years, the DP roads remain on paper. Due to the lack of alternative roads, traffic congestion in Dhayari village and other routes has become a severe issue. Citizens face daily hardships due to this traffic congestion. Despite spending crores of rupees, the projects remain incomplete. Only around 400 metres of work has been completed, leaving the rest pending. Insufficient police, home guards, traffic wardens, and non-functional signals have worsened traffic management and led to chaos."
"The traffic congestion on Dhayari village roads, including Dhayari-Narhe, Nanded Phata to Nanded City Gate, and Lagad Mala to Dhayari Phata, has become a critical issue. For the last four years consistently we have been giving letters to the various dedicated departments but no steps have been taken yet by the administration," he added.
Nilesh Damishte, an AAP worker, expressed, "The administration had planned four DP roads in Dhayari village but there has been no action taken. Partial land acquisition has been carried out in some areas, leaving the work incomplete." "We will conduct a hunger strike to draw the attention of the responsible departments. Administration should provide basic facilities to their taxpayers," he added.
