After two years of suffering due to the poor condition of the Bethora main road, improvement work has finally begun un der the Public Works De partment (PWD). While the repairs have brought relief to residents, a new dispute has emerged between the local panchayat and resi dents over who deserves credit for getting the work started. At a press briefing, Be thora Sarpanch Madu Khandeparkar, along with panchayat members, crit icised certain locals for what he called a “baseless social media campaign” targeting the panchayat over the road condition. He said the ongoing work was sanctioned and ex ecuted by the ruling BJP government with support from PWD officials and lo cal MLA and Minister Sub hash Shirodkar. He further urged people “not to trust social media posts” claim ing otherwise. Khandeparkar alleged that a few residents were trying to take undue cred it for the road repairs and demanded that they pro vide evidence of their in volvement. He added that the opposition was “frus trated” and had been using harsh language against the panchayat for months. Responding to the Sar panch’s remarks, local resident Nyanesh Khan deparkar rejected the al legations. He clarified that neither he nor others had taken credit for the repairs or criticised the govern ment. “We only highlighted the issue for the past two years through the media,” he said. “We raised it re peatedly in the gram sabha, met PWD officials several times, and most recently approached PWD Minis ter Digambar Kamat.
It is our right to bring such matters to the notice of the panchayat and the government.” Residents maintain that their continuous follow-ups and protests played an im portant role in pushing for the much-needed repairs, while the panchayat in sists the work is a result of government action and planning. The road works are cur rently underway, bringing hope that the long-stand ing inconvenience faced by Bethora locals will soon be resolved
