DNA's initiative, My Locality My voice, has given citizens a strong platform to raise their voices about civic issues in the city. Seizing the opportunity, residents of Ward K (east) and K (west) raised issues which make their life miserable every day.
Ward K (east) resident, Sushma Vasaikar said, "Autorickshaw drivers create a lot of fuss and they aren't courteous towards senior citizens. What can you do to solve this problem?" Other residents also echoed the concern. A resident Amarjeet said, "We read about RTO's drives everyday but nothing has changed so far.
Commuters across Mumbai face the the same problems and authorities have miserably failed to solve them. Autorickshaw drivers don't reconsider refusing even patients and children."
Parag Alavani, general secretary, BJP-Mumbai, cited the scarcity of auto services in the area. He said, "The older generation of autorickshaw drivers have left the profession and their children are better placed now. So, there is a huge gap between the demand and supply of autorickshaws. We had proposed a 'BEST Ring Bus Service' few years ago to ply shorter distances. It is high time that these services started across the city."
To woo irked voters, MNS leader Shirish Parkar said in MNS's trademark style, "Give us the mandate, we will 'cure' autowallahs." His remark left the audience in lighter mood. MNS is yet to have a presence in Ward K (east) and K (west).
Finally, NCP leader and MLC Vidya Chavan took a stand (uuto union leader Sharad Rao is an NCP man) and cleared her party's stand diplomatically, "Sharad Rao works for autowallahs, while I and the party (NCP) work for common people. I also commute by train and auto and I've been refused often. I recently got a car when I was appointed women wing's president."
