Delhi: Patparganj
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Civic issues
2017
Paras Singh, Even the `privileged' are wasting away here, March 27, 2017: The Times of India
The municipal wards in Patparganj assembly constituency present a disharmonious picture made up of planned urban centres like IP Extension and Vinod Nagar alongside neglected unauthorised colonies and villages. However, even in the better colonies, as Vishambar Dutt of West Vinod Nagar pointed out, “It's not as if we received more attention from the corporation. In fact, because it failed us, we contracted private workers to look after things like garbage.“ Indeed, if there is one issue in east Delhi ahead of the April municipal polls, it is the all-round failure of the penurious East Delhi Municipal Corporation since it took over civic responsibilities in 2012.
While the more affluent colonies in the four wards of Mandawali, Vinod Nagar, Mayur Vihar Phase II and Patparganj created a parallel system for meeting civic needs, urban villages such as Khichripur and those in Vinod Nagar and lower middle class colonies have suffered for five years.
In the jhuggi-jhopri camp at D Block in Khichripur, Sabra, 60, was particularly irate.“Forget during strikes by sanitation workers, garbage collects outside our houses throughout the year, the drains overflow with stinking sludge and the park has been taken over by squatters.“ Ashish Kumar from Kumaun Square added, “While the rest of Delhi is getting open gyms, our parks are being buried in trash.“ In adjoining Mandawali village, the unoccupied DDA plot doubles up as a garbage dump. Meenakshi Devi, who lives in Unchepar, complained, “Trucks come here at night and dump the waste material. If we try to stop them, they fight with us.“ The open dumping of garbage has created its own problem of stray cattle gathering on roads to feed on the trash. While the problem is particularly striking in rural expanses like Khichripur, it is present to some extent even in the supposedly `posh' areas of IP Extension.
In a village abutting the more organised Mayur Vihar, Som Dutt, a furniture businessman, reiterated that besides the bane of accumulated garbage and damaged roads, stray animals are a huge problem. “There are numerous dairies in the area, and their owners let the cows loose to feed where they can. They roam on the roads and cause accidents,“ said Dutt. “But the dairy owners have clout to ensure corporation officials don't act.“ Sanjay Singh morosely added that even when EDMC conducted a raid to take away the cattle, its employees leaked information in advance and rendered such actions infructuous.
Devendra Kumar, BJP councillor from Mayur Vihar Phase II, did not believe the cattle problem was anything special. “This problem exists across Delhi and we are no exception,“ he said dismissively. And then, as the ruling party councillors are wont to, he blamed the state government for the poor condition of roads there. “This situation was created by Delhi government,“ he insisted.
Like Kumar, Sarala Chaudhari, BJP councillor from Vinod Nagar, blamed politics for the corporation's penury . “People haven't received their pensions for 3-4 years due to the fund crunch,“ she claimed, before clinching her argument with, “But I still managed to open a primary school, a dispensary and create several drains in my ward.“ As a parting shot, she said that despite Patparganj ward falling in deputy CM Manish Sisodia's assembly constituency , the roads there were decrepit and agencies like DJB and PWD did little to lessen the people's woes.
