There was nothing I could do while in the army in term of giving back to the society. After a few years of settled life in pune, the sad state of the city’s amenities in so far as they effect the citizen and the inadequacies of the services provided by the governmental agencies like power,
Telecommunications and police, to mention a few, started troubling me. Then I sought an NGO Joined to tackle the issues that impinge on the day to day life of punekars.
First It was the local Aundh Vikas Mandal and then The citywide National Society for Clean Cities. I had the privilege and satisfaction of being the President of both these NGOs which directly interact with the various relevant authorities to sort out civic problems without any confrontational approaches.
possible repercussions. I did get threatened by a builder once while in pursuit of uncovering irregularities, but it doesn’t alter my aims. Of course, it does not serve any purpose getting exposed to avoidable danger.
I had also been with the lions, which does a different kind of social service and rose to be the zone Chairman, before quitting to concentrate on the kind of work I am doing now. I am also member of Advisory Board of the Public Concern for Governance Trust which addresses issues of misgovernance and spreads information that helps demand good governance. It must be understood that social work involves tackling the conflicting needs of different stake holders. So, we consider even a one percent success rate as a positive result.
Among other things our efforts have resulted in the city over the past several years. Collectively we have succeeded in saving the Bio Diversity Park from being parceled out to the greedy builders and saved several water bodies, apart from the constant and unrelenting efforts to keep the city clean, street lights burning, water being safe to drink and so on. The most prominent effort is to face bribe giving.
