Story of dry taps & displaced people

Juna Vadaj is dominated by Scheduled Caste and OBC (other backward classes) voters as members of these communities account for nearly 70% of the total population of the ward. Residents of the ward do not consider the incumbent corporators' work as 'extraordinary' but they are not very disappointed with them either.

There are two major problems in Juna Vadaj: inadequate water supply and lack of hygiene. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has built a new reservoir in the ward but the water supply pressure in the area continues to be low.

As for public hygiene, road development and removal of encroachments have somewhat improved the slum area called Ramapir No Tekro, and the ward will be directly linked to east Ahmedabad once the river-bridge on the BRTS route is ready. However, residents say a lot more needs to be done.

The Congress has the upper hand in this ward. In the civic polls of 2005, Juna Vadaj was the only ward in the West Zone where the Congress won all the three seats. Even in the by-election held in February this year, the Congress candidate, Pravin Parmar, won by a comfortable margin.

Besides the one seat reserved for women (under the 33% quota for the fair sex), one seat was reserved OBCs after the recent delimitation. The third seat is a general category seat.

The Congress is likely to repeat the incumbent corporator, Naran Patel, for the general category seat. Pravin Parmar, who won the by-election in February as a Congress candidate, is unlikely to get the party ticket this time as no seat in the ward is reserved for the Scheduled Castes now.

Sources in the Congress said he is also too junior to replace Patel, a veteran of many poll battles.

However, there are reports that Parmar might contest as a rebel independent candidate, pinning his hopes on the Schedule Caste voters who comprise nearly one-third of Juna Vadaj population.
The BJP's campaign has already suffered a setback here. The office-bearers of the Juna Vadaj unit of the BJP are opposed to the party's decision to give ticket to the incumbent president of the party's Juna Vadaj unit, Harshad Thakor.