Wagholi Residents Launch Campaign Against PMC Amidst Absence Of Facilities 

By: Pune Pulse

October 13, 2023

Pune: Team Wagholi Against Corruption Organization (WACO) has started sending emails to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) raising questions about paying property tax if basic facilities are not provided to them.

Speaking to Pune Pulse, Anil Kumar Mishra, Founder & President of Team WACO said, “As of now, roughly about 100 Wagholi residents have already joined this by sending emails to the PMC regarding property tax payment without getting any basic facilities. Many, many more emails are awaited to be sent as we target about 2000 emails in the next 2 weeks.”

As per further information shared by Anil Kumar Mishra, the following are the excerpts of the email communication with the PMC:

• ‘Wagholi village was merged into PMC in July 2021. Since then, even after 2 years, no development has happened on ground up till now with regards to proper roads, water supply, drainage system, garbage management in Wagholi.’
• ‘Life of people is in danger every moment travelling on any road including improper service road, Nagar Road Highway etc. The situation of the majority of the internal and connecting roads is pathetic, they are fully riddled with potholes, and water logging is a perennial problem that commuters face on these roads. Lakhs of citizens living in hundreds of housing societies in Wagholi are not getting a single drop of water from PMC as of date and hence they have to spend crores of rupees every year to buy water from private water tanker suppliers.’
• ‘Wagholikars pay private agencies to remove garbage as garbage disposal services, which are supposed to be provided by PMC, are nonexistent. The problem is compounded by the shocking level of open dumping & garbage burning in various public places including the roads in Wagholi.’
• ‘There’s no proper drainage system in Wagholi, which leads to regular sewage overflow and our roads turning into streams at the first signs of rain.’
• ‘While surviving with near to nothing basic services, starting from this financial year, Wagholikars are being sent Property Tax Bills of thousands of rupees by PMC which is completely illogical & irrational.’
• ‘If there are no services like no Water supply, no Drainage system, and no proper Garbage management from PMC, then why such Tax components like Water Tax, Sewage Tax and Cleaning Tax are included in the Property Tax?’
• ‘If we are not safe, our family members (especially children & ladies) are not safe & having accidents on a daily basis while travelling on broken roads, waterlogged roads overflowing from sewage from open drains, or oftentimes non-existent roads, why should PMC demand Road Tax?’
• ‘Why should Wagholikars pay any property tax without any commensurate service being provided by PMC against the tax being collected?’
• ‘So, we request the PMC to please waive off the Property Tax of all those lakhs of citizens living in hundreds of housing societies at least up to the end of this Financial Year i.e. 2023-24. Additionally, please provide the official development plans, if any such plans actually exist, for the coming years for Wagholi.’

Shreyas Vange