Geographically a relatively small constituency with a municipal council and one village panchayat, Ponda is a large political arena where politicians of various affiliations and levels of expertise have tried their luck. But in a small constituency, politicians tend to tread on each other’s toes and the consequences have generally been detrimental to Ponda constituency.
This is the plight of Ponda constituency which consists of two local bodies, Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) and Curti Khandepar Panchayat, as many projects have been unresolved mainly due to fierce political rivalry.
While Ponda city is divided into 14 wards, the Curti-Khandepar Panchayat has 11 wards and both areas have a sizeable Hindu voters, followed by Christians and Muslims. The Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) had won the Ponda seat seven times, followed by the Congress Party on three occasions. The Bhartiya Janata Party has never won from here, even though leaders like Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik had contested from Ponda.
Famous for structures like the Shivaji fort at Farmagudi and Safa Masjid, Ponda is known as the temple town. People visit the temples to seek blessings and for offerings, but there is dearth of infrastructure like parking facilities and public toilets.
Most people in Ponda constituency would readily agree that Ponda has been failed by fiery politics and faulty development.
In the absence of an effective traffic management system, traffic congestion is one major problem in te constituency. There are many schools in Ponda constituency and managing traffic during peak hours is an uphill task for even the traffic police.
Considering all problems associated with traffic congestion and with the efforts of Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, a traffic management plan was drafted and unveiled in December 2013 by then chief minister Manohar Parrikar. The project included a multi-storeyed parking lot, two-wheeler movement lane, flyover and pedestrian network along the Nullah.
According to MLA Lavu Mamledar, the project was worth Rs 100 crore and Rs 25 crore was even sanctioned for the project. However, the project could not be started due to political obstructions.
There is considerable scope to develop Ponda city by identifying open spaces and utilizing them for social purposes, but this has not been pursued. The Ponda Municipal Council reportedly failed to develop open spaces, despite announcing to get it done through GSUDA.
In yet another instance of failed and flawed development, the PMC on May 19, 2014 had laid a second foundation stone for the construction of ‘Signature Project’ under the Golden Jubilee fund to house a movie theatre, a food court, a hall and a library. The foundation stone for the same project was earlier laid by former home minister Ravi Naik on December 19, 2011.
A double foundation stone only conveyed the message to the general public that politicians were more eager to display their names on corner stones rather than ensuing the completion of the project in question. Going by the slow pace of construction work, their fears are justified as not even 10 per cent work of the ‘Signature Project’ has been completed.
A movie theatre in Ponda town has been on the wish list of people, especially after the Aisha Theatre was demolished to make way for a huge commercial building. A mini theatre 'Cine Mahalsa' was set up at Curti on the outskirts of Ponda, but that has not stopped people from eagerly awaiting the completion of the ‘Signature Project’.
Unlike other cities, garbage problem is not a major issue in Ponda due to the effective management of garbage in the town. But this project too was not without its share of opposition.
PMC began to dump garbage at the Kerye-Khandepar garbage treatment site, but locals in the area objected to the activity and local panchas had also joined the opposition. Till date, the issue of treating garbage at the Kerye-Khandepar garbage treatment site has not been solved.
At present, the PMC segregates the waste and while wet garbage is sent to the farms across Ponda taluka as manure, the dry waste is sent to the department of Science and technology.
Former Ponda MLA Ravi Naik claims to have initiated the idea of sewerage treatment plant during his tenure, but the project which was resumed by MG Party leaders witnessed stiff opposition from the local body, backed by the BJP. After several verbal clashes, PMC finally gave permission to lay a sewerage network in the city.
Such has been the divisive politics in Ponda constituency, that two alliance partners in the State government, BJP and MGP, do not see eye to eye on almost all issues. Allegations between the two parties has become a frequent activity in Ponda.
MG Party leader and Ponda MLA Lavu Mamledar has accused the councillors and workers of BJP of being “de-facto MLAs” by creating hurdles in his works. BJP State President Vinay Tendulkar has refuted the allegations and has already warned that BJP leaders will not be responsible if 2017 election results go against Mamledar.
Likewise, all is not well in Curti-Khandepar Panchayat, another area of Ponda constituency, as there is no proper management of garbage collection.
Garbage is scattered at many places in this area along the roadside and also on roads. Though MLA Mamledar claims to have constructed internal roads here, it lacks many other facilities. The issue of unemployment has also been a sore point for people in the area.
The constituency, which has over 29,000 voters, including 6,000 Christian and 4,000 Muslims voters, was once a stronghold of MG Party two decades ago. Now, BJP claims to have 8,500 members and the MG Party too claims similar support.
All three parties, the BJP, Congress and MGP are focused on mobilising votes of minorities and several programmes are being organised in this direction.
Minorities will play a significant role in the next assembly election in Ponda constituency, but candidates in the fray will have to persuade the minorities by assure to develop a burial ground and cemetery at Curti.
Mamledar could have benefited hugely on this issue, but the land acquired by the panchayat in his tenure is being probed by the vigilance department.
Similar is the situation in Khandepar area, where Hindus are sizeable in number, as they don’t have a crematorium.
Given fierce politics which has marred development in Ponda, all parties will have a difficult task at hand to appeal to voters, before even appealling for their votes.
Bridging the MGP-BJP divide to get their joint candidate elected from Ponda will not be easy, as long as Mamletdar plans to contest again from Ponda. And with the BJP-MGP alliance in disarray, the four-time MLA and Congress veteran Ravi Naik will be waiting to strike back.
