Latest revision as of 18:45, 6 September 2022

[edit] The assembly constituency

[edit] A constituency profile, As in 2020

Sidhartha.Roy, January 16, 2020: The Times of India

Seelampur- The assembly constituency, A constituency profile, As in 2020
From: Sidhartha.Roy, January 16, 2020: The Times of India

Big divide: Which way will the electorate go?

New Delhi:

The lanes of Seelampur, with posters against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens on the walls, are unusually quiet. Just a month earlier, the area in northeast Delhi had erupted in violence against CAA, in which 21 policemen and civilians were injured in stone pelting and tear gassing.

The Seelampur assembly constituency, with a predominantly Muslim electorate, has been a Congress stronghold. Former Congress MLA Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad, who didn’t lose a poll for two decades till 2015, is still a name to reckon with. Ahmad bucked anti-incumbency in the 2013 assembly elections, but couldn’t counter the Aam Aadmi Party juggernaut in 2015, losing to that party’s Mohammad Ishraq Khan by a big margin. AAP has replaced Khan with a fresh face-—Abdul Rehman—this year.

“Many improvements, such as flyovers came during the Congress government’s tenures,” Wahab agreed. “However, Arvind Kejriwal has done a lot of work for us in the last five years. The road in front of my house used to fill up with sewage whenever it rained, but the government increased the road’s height and improved the drainage system. The MLA doesn’t matter, we will vote for Kejriwal.”

The constituency has colonies of all sort — unauthorised, regularised and resettlement — plus a sizeable number of slums. Most people TOI talked to said they did have complaints about improper drainage and broken roads but were satisfied overall with progress in their localities.

“Choked sewers are an issue in our area and though new pipes are being laid, it will take time,” concurred Jalaluddin, a resident of Jaffrabad. “But the AAP government has done a lot of other work. CCTV cameras have come up, many medicines are now available for free at hospitals and bus travel is free for women.” After some silence, he added, “The most important change in the last five years, however, is that no one asks for a bribe now.”

The Muslim electorate is substantial, but there is sizeable Hindu vote in areas like Brahampuri and Maujpur. Naresh Kumar Sharma, a Brahmapuri resident, pointed out their own problems. “Sealing of commercial spaces is a big issue here. Many shop owners and their workers no longer have work. Many small household industries have also been terminated and though unauthorised, these did provide livelihood to many,” Sharma said.

He acknowledged that roads had become better and streetlights had been put up. “This is a lower middle class area and what might seem basic facilities in other parts of the city are big boons for us,” he reasoned.

The road from Brahmapuri narrows as one approaches Maujpur and vehicle speed dwindles. It doesn’t help that the potholed road is uneven and slushy. The sentiment also changes. “There may have been development in other areas but roads and drainage in Maujpur are in terrible shape,” grumbled Avnish Kumar, 33, who migrated to Maujpur from Haryana’s Kosi a decade ago.

[edit] Civic issues

[edit] 2017

Paras Singh, Muck and stink trouble Seelampur , April 16, 2017: The Times of India

Delhi, Seelampur: some facts; Paras Singh, Muck and stink trouble Seelampur , April 16, 2017: The Times of India

The Shahdara drain runs through Seelampur. Its murky and fetid course through the four wards of the assembly constituency -Maujpur, Chauhan Bangar, Gautampuri and Seelampur -is an apt metaphor for the dismal failure of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation in the area. Sanitation has become such a problem that it dwarfs every other civic issue.

“Cleanliness is our main and only demand,“ declared Mohammad Dilshad, a young voter in Seelampur. “The trash is not taken away, sometimes for weeks. That is why the drain in Seelampur is choked with filth.“ Because the corporation does not clear the garbage, people are wont to dump it in the canal.Md Javed pointed out that the drain is cleaned once a year, leaving it with “less of water and more of garbage and used for open defecation“.When TOI was in the area, the large water channel was being cleared and the muck dredged out occupied a whole lane along Asha Ram Tyagi Marg, but residents cautioned against being deceived by this election-inspired activity.

It is perhaps ironical that people feel frustrated because both the incumbent mayor of EDMC Satya Sharma and leader of the House Sanjay Jain are residents of this area. Asma Begum, the sitting councillor from Chauhan Bangar, admitted that the drain was the cause of disease and death. “We have proposed several times that it should be covered,“ she said.“It would prevent garbage being thrown into it and create space for us to open polyclinics too, but EDMC maintains covering the drain entails too big an expense unless Delhi government provides the funds.“

Mayor Sharma, the representative from Usmanpuri, drew attention to one other problem associated with the uncovered drain. “A large section has been encroached upon,“ she said. “The corporation officials have been unable to enforce rules and stop the mushrooming of illegal and hazardous industries in residential areas, which channel the effluent into the drain.“

Jaffrabad resident Md Aftab said that things had improved slightly in the past five years, but any benefit was undone by the population growth. With an open drain and teeming humanity living in its vicinity, it was surprising that there were numero us cases of chikungunya and dengue in 2017.

The poor condition of street lighting is another bane. Under such circumstances, said Amit Malik of Jammu Mohalla in Maujpur, the entire area has become unsafe for women. He added, “Besides, it also becomes diffi cult to cope with the packs of dogs that prowl around.“ Some colonies in Maujpur have been given water supply in the past few years, but the agencies haven't covered up the roads that were dug up to lay the pipelines.

Mayor Sharma, while claiming that she had been in the post only for a short while, nevertheless asserted that many projects had been started in the four wards in recent years. “The incoming corporators should focus on completing these projects which have got stuck due to paucity of funds as well as time,“ she said.