Delhi: Gandhi Nagar
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Civic issues
2017
Paras Singh, Gandhi Nagar seethes at yrs of neglect , April 4, 2017: The Times of India
The title of being one of the “World's Most Notorious Markets“ is not something that Gandhi Nagar savours. Rampant violation of intellectual property rights made the US Trade Representative include the east Delhi trading centre in the list last year. Businessmen, however, love touting the place as Asia's largest wholesale market for readymade apparel. That is why clothes businessman Dalvinder Singh is miffed. “Being a market of this size, we contribute so much in taxes, but what do we get in return?“ he asked. He gave the answer himself: “Absolutely nothing in terms of civic facilities.“
Home to a teeming mass that trades in and manufactures affordable apparel, this bustling, four-decade-old community along the banks of the Yamuna Pushta Road is now crumbling. From heavily encroached footpaths, overflowing drains, narrow roads cramped by illegally constructed factories and godowns and the lack of public toilets, its largely middle and lowermiddle income population have a lot to contend with.
Political parties will fight to win the three East Delhi Municipal Corporation seats of Shastri Park, Kanti Nagar and Raghubarpura falling in the Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency , but victory will come with the onerous burden of having to meet the civic expectations of the thousands who run the 20,000 cottage-industry units in localities like Dharampura, Seelampur, Ajeet Nagar and Raghubarpura that produce apparel sold by the 10,000 shops of Gandhi Nagar.
“Even the entrance to the corporation's own office near the market remains blocked by illegally parked trucks,“ sneered Amarjeet Singh, 66, a Multani Mohalla resident who came to this area in 1970 when it consisted of vacant fields. Harjeet Singh of Radha Swami Satsang Beas Colony elaborated, “Illegal godowns and workshops operate in every locality and their transport vehicles jam the already constricted roads.“ The anger of the residents is palpable. The identification boards of local representatives have been blackened out and some bold wall graffiti demand to know from the area MP , MLA and corporator who is responsibi lity for the civic mess.
With the market affording a livelihood for everyone, almost all vacant plots have seen jhuggis coming up on them.Afar Khan, head of the vendors' association near Shastri Park metro station, alleged that residents are forced to pay bribes to corporation employ ees to be let alone. But this does not guarantee civic amenities.Md Harul of Buland Masjid in Shastri Park complained that corporation workers did not visit their locality . “Who wins from here or whether there are three or four wards is irrelevant to us,“ he said. “After all, we will have to continue spending our own money to have garbage removed from the roads once every week.“
It is not as if Gandhi Nagar hasn't had adequate representation in the corporation. Jitender Chaudhary , chairman of the standing committee, and Varyam Kaur, leader of the Opposition, are both from the area. “At least, Chaudhary is visible and visits us in times of happiness or sorrow,“ said Jitender Nanda, a trader who lives in Shankar Nagar. But he admitted all the same that the roads were broken, the street lights did not function and the parks have not been maintained in the municipal wards.
