Since January 2018, I have been trying to get a scooter that has been abandoned since almost three years, removed from the footpath on M G Road in Pune, camp.
1. First, I waited till the municipal garbage van came on its rounds and requested them to take away the rusted broken down eyesore of a scooter. They refused, saying that it was not permitted that they should take away abandoned vehicles.
2. So, I wrote a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation or PMC, and informed them about the abandoned vehicle and how it had become a vantage point for garbage to be dumped and rodents to thrive in. But I did not even get a response to my letter.
3. Friends and relatives advised me to forget trying to get the rusted dilapidated vehicle removed and dismantled. Anyway, I visited the traffic police chowky of the camp area, with a letter, giving the details of the license plate, the area and the problem. They refused to even accept the letter and directed me to the crime branch in the same compound of the camp police headquarters.
4. The crime branch of the camp area police chowky is much larger than the traffic police section, and a large screen shows the camera views from various vantage points on the main roads. Pretty female cadets, with nail polished long nails, are chatting along happily, in marathi. I was delegated to wait for the main officer to come in. After almost 20 minutes, the male officer came and after listening to my complaint, refused to accept the letter, and directed me to submit it to the traffic police section. So so frustrating! I controlled my anger and informed them that they had sent me to this office. After assuring me that action would be taken and that a crane would take away the abandoned scooter within a week, I was asked to go.
5. I waited patiently for one entire month, but no one removed the abandoned scooter. So, I penned another request and made sure that my copy was signed and stamped and submitted, after cajoling the police staff for almost an hour.
6. Another month passed and nothing was done.
7. This time I made six copies of the request, and submitted one to the PMC, one to the traffic police camp area, one to the crime branch of the camp area, one to the commissioner's office near GPO, one to the 'aamdaar' of the camp area and one for myself. Nothing was done.
8. I went back to the crime branch and the traffic head office of the camp area and they told me that work is done slowly but surely?? That at the moment they were busy with 'bandobast' and so could not take action.
9. My last visit to the police chowky of the Pune camp area was on 27th August. They directed me to the traffic branch again, and again the traffic branch sent me to the crime branch section. Then I was asked to wait for the officer in charge to return from lunch. While I waited for almost two hours, I observed the various complainants that arrived.
One agitated gentleman had left his mobile in a rickshaw and was trying to lodge and FIR. Another 'politician' was protesting how his picture and name had been misused on some public forum internet site and he wanted the culprit caught. After the head officer arrived, and dealt with both these complaints, my turn came, after waiting there for almost 3 hours. The officer assured me that the abandoned vehicle would be taken away within half an hour, etc etc.
I was asked to go and be assured of quick action. Nothing was done for the next two days since then.
It has been eight months now since I requested the 'authorities' to clear the abandoned vehicle. This time I even showed them a copy of Mumbai Mirror, which had the first page story of how 'khatara' vehicles on Mumbai roads had been cleared. I have requested Mr Adar Poonawala, the philanthropist who has taken up the project of 'clean Pune', to intervene and clear out the eyesore, but even his workers claim that their hands are tied.
To anyone who can be effective, the scooter's license plate is MZD 4493, and it is on the narrow footpath, opposite Kolsa Galli, on the Main Street end, outside Maharshtra Cheap Store, Macroman, at 75 MG Road, Pune Camp. Presently, a homeless man has made the scooter his storing site and hoarded all sorts of materials, clothes, food packets and other items onto it.
What a challenge to get the machinery to move for a simple action required! I feel exhausted. Mr Modi boasted that we should all strive towards a clean India, but it doesn't mean a thing to anyone else in India.
1. First, I waited till the municipal garbage van came on its rounds and requested them to take away the rusted broken down eyesore of a scooter. They refused, saying that it was not permitted that they should take away abandoned vehicles.
2. So, I wrote a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation or PMC, and informed them about the abandoned vehicle and how it had become a vantage point for garbage to be dumped and rodents to thrive in. But I did not even get a response to my letter.
3. Friends and relatives advised me to forget trying to get the rusted dilapidated vehicle removed and dismantled. Anyway, I visited the traffic police chowky of the camp area, with a letter, giving the details of the license plate, the area and the problem. They refused to even accept the letter and directed me to the crime branch in the same compound of the camp police headquarters.
4. The crime branch of the camp area police chowky is much larger than the traffic police section, and a large screen shows the camera views from various vantage points on the main roads. Pretty female cadets, with nail polished long nails, are chatting along happily, in marathi. I was delegated to wait for the main officer to come in. After almost 20 minutes, the male officer came and after listening to my complaint, refused to accept the letter, and directed me to submit it to the traffic police section. So so frustrating! I controlled my anger and informed them that they had sent me to this office. After assuring me that action would be taken and that a crane would take away the abandoned scooter within a week, I was asked to go.
5. I waited patiently for one entire month, but no one removed the abandoned scooter. So, I penned another request and made sure that my copy was signed and stamped and submitted, after cajoling the police staff for almost an hour.
6. Another month passed and nothing was done.
7. This time I made six copies of the request, and submitted one to the PMC, one to the traffic police camp area, one to the crime branch of the camp area, one to the commissioner's office near GPO, one to the 'aamdaar' of the camp area and one for myself. Nothing was done.
8. I went back to the crime branch and the traffic head office of the camp area and they told me that work is done slowly but surely?? That at the moment they were busy with 'bandobast' and so could not take action.
9. My last visit to the police chowky of the Pune camp area was on 27th August. They directed me to the traffic branch again, and again the traffic branch sent me to the crime branch section. Then I was asked to wait for the officer in charge to return from lunch. While I waited for almost two hours, I observed the various complainants that arrived.
One agitated gentleman had left his mobile in a rickshaw and was trying to lodge and FIR. Another 'politician' was protesting how his picture and name had been misused on some public forum internet site and he wanted the culprit caught. After the head officer arrived, and dealt with both these complaints, my turn came, after waiting there for almost 3 hours. The officer assured me that the abandoned vehicle would be taken away within half an hour, etc etc.
I was asked to go and be assured of quick action. Nothing was done for the next two days since then.
It has been eight months now since I requested the 'authorities' to clear the abandoned vehicle. This time I even showed them a copy of Mumbai Mirror, which had the first page story of how 'khatara' vehicles on Mumbai roads had been cleared. I have requested Mr Adar Poonawala, the philanthropist who has taken up the project of 'clean Pune', to intervene and clear out the eyesore, but even his workers claim that their hands are tied.
To anyone who can be effective, the scooter's license plate is MZD 4493, and it is on the narrow footpath, opposite Kolsa Galli, on the Main Street end, outside Maharshtra Cheap Store, Macroman, at 75 MG Road, Pune Camp. Presently, a homeless man has made the scooter his storing site and hoarded all sorts of materials, clothes, food packets and other items onto it.
What a challenge to get the machinery to move for a simple action required! I feel exhausted. Mr Modi boasted that we should all strive towards a clean India, but it doesn't mean a thing to anyone else in India.
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