By PTI
LUCKNOW: Residents of several high-rise apartments in Lucknow have threatened to boycott the upcoming assembly elections, saying that various amenities promised to them were not provided despite repeated assurances.
Residents of Saupan Apartments located on Sitapur Road have even put up a banner announcing their intent to boycott the elections.
“We will not vote if encroachments from the road are not removed. We will boycott elections,” reads the message written in Hindi on a blue banner that hangs on the main entrance of the apartment complex.
“We have been suffering a lot because of the illegal encroachments on the road adjacent to our apartment. The illegal squatters not only pose a threat to the law and order of the area but also make it difficult for us to enter into and leave the apartments easily with our vehicles,” Rupesh Singh, one of the residents of the apartment, said.
“We have written several letters to the administration and police officials to get the encroachments cleared but nothing has been done. So we have been left with no option now except boycotting the polls,” he added.
The apartment falls under the Lucknow North assembly constituency and has over 2,000 voters, Singh claimed.
Lucknow goes to the polls in the fourth phase on February 23.
Residents of Nakul Niwas, another apartment complex housing close to 120 families in the Arjunganj area of Lucknow too have decided to boycott polls.
“Our apartment complex was built around eight years ago, yet the approach road remains in dilapidated condition. The situation has worsened in the last couple of years and the approach road has neither been maintained nor built despite repeated appeals. Because of this, we have decided to boycott polls,” said Nakul Niwas resident Sahdev Verma.
Nakul Niwas comes under the Sarojini Nagar assembly constituency of Lucknow.
As per rough estimates, there are over 900 apartments including the high-rise ones with around up to 15 floors or more and low-rise buildings with just four floors, spread across Lucknow housing a considerable chunk of voters.
Despite this, people living in apartments complain that their demands have been overlooked by political parties.
Umashankar Dubey, chairman of Lucknow Jankalyan Mahasamiti, an umbrella organisation of Resident Welfare Associations in Lucknow said, “Political parties especially the BJP considers that people living in the apartments are with them. We want to change it (this notion) this time by asserting our demands.”
Dubey said large builders and even the Lucknow Development Authority have not fulfilled the promises that were made to flat owners in apartments across Lucknow.
He said demands ranging from not fulfilling the promises of the construction of amenities like clubhouses, swimming pools to non-repayment of corpus funds and lack of services to the residents have been pending for a long time.
“In almost all societies developed by LDA, the local RWAs have not been provided with a corpus fund which is paid by the residents at the time of the booking.”
“This has left the RWAs cash-strapped, preventing them from undertaking any development work within the complex. Besides this, the construction of promised amenities have not been done,” Dubey said.
He added that he along with several RWAs members have moved from pillar to post with their demands but have only received assurances from officials and politicians.
The group has called a meeting of all RWAs to decide about the upcoming elections.
“We have called a meeting to decide on whether to boycott polls or opt for NOTA if our demands are not met,” said Dubey.
The group also claims to have the support of 88 urban villages which fall under the Lucknow Municipal Corporation limits in the past few years.
“People of these villages have not been provided with services like garbage collection, sewer and drinking water despite being included in the Lucknow municipal corporation limits,” said Dubey.
Reacting to the threats issued by residents of various apartments, BJP’s Lucknow North MLA Neeraj Bora, who is contesting from the same seat, said, “The BJP has taken all possible care of the people’s demand. There are always some complaints. We will contact the people who have the complaints and will try to resolve their issues.”
UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh told PTI, “The BJP has neglected residents of the city, the middle-class people like farmers in the state. These groups will ensure the defeat of the BJP in the ongoing UP assembly elections.”
Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow North Pooja Shukla, meanwhile, said, “The people in the area have several problems that were overlooked by the BJP. Our party has promised the local residents that their problems will be resolved as soon as we come to power.”
