According to the citizens, instability has been the root cause behind the lack of development.
Although the candidates for these municipal elections have promised stability, the citizens find it hard to blindly believe them as similar promises had been made by the candidates of the last election. The people saw seven chairpersons and nine vice-chairpersons in the last five years.
As per Vasco citizens, the issues that existed before the 2010 municipal elections still exist today. Development was given the last priority, which has hurt them.
“The new councillors should first promise to themselves before taking the oath as councillors that they will not take part in any musical chairs game and dedicate themselves to ensuring development and a garbage-free port town,” said Advocate Raju Deokar, a local.
The roadside town market is still lying in a dilapidated condition and has become more congested than before. It’s the same with meat and fish markets.
“I feel it was only due to lack of will and nothing else. Not a single genuine effort was made by the former councillors to give good market infrastructure to the citizens. Also, the MMC owns several premises in the heart of the town, but these buildings have become unsafe for the occupants. The responsibility lies solely with the councillors, who failed miserably in the last five years. We hope that the new council takes up all these issues, keeping aside political differences, if any,” said local Preetam Keluskar.
The issues of traffic congestion and vehicular parking have also been given very little importance. “Vasco is known as a well-planned city only on paper. The ground reality is the opposite. There is heavy traffic on a regular basis. Similarly, despite the town having parking facilities, there is no system in place, due to which parking slots are wasted due to wrong parking. There should be implementation of pay parking in Vasco to eliminate this menace,” said local Pramod Amonkar.
The issue of cleanliness haunts the citizens the most. The MMC had adopted the theme ‘Clean and Green Vasco’, but it was forgotten a long time ago. The citizens have demanded that the new councillors not only to promote this theme, but strictly implement it.
“The candidates should keep in mind that once they are elected, they should treat themselves as the councillor of all 25 wards and not only of the ward from where they elected. Only then all-round development is possible,” said Advocate Rajan Naik, Vasco resident.
