Pune: Pune’s civic culture: Build, inaugurate, personalise In Pune’s changing political culture, public infrastructure increasingly serves two purposes: civic utility and political visibility. Roads, gardens, hospitals, water projects and welfare schemes are no longer viewed merely as public assets funded through taxpayer money. They are also becoming instruments of personal branding, symbolic ownership and political recall. Across Maharashtra’s urban politics, especially in Pune, governance and image-building are steadily merging into one another. The developments witnessed in the city over the past week offered a revealing snapshot of this transition. On Sunday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the long-pending Mohammadwadi water supply project, expected to benefit nearly three lakh residents across Mohammadwadi, Undri and adjoining areas after years of chronic water shortages. During the programme, Fadnavis credited citizen forums and residents for persistently following up on the project and ensuring its completion. His remarks came amid visible political undercurrents surrounding the event. A day earlier, friction had reportedly emerged after local residents expressed a desire to meet the chief minister directly regarding the project. Local BJP …