New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has promised to make the city ‘look like London’ within a year if his party wins the April 23 municipal polls. But as of today, Burari, a constituency in north Delhi, looks more like Pakistan’s Rawalpindi, ranked the filthiest city in the world.
Anuradha Gupta, 42, a resident of Ajit Vihar in Burari suffers from partial paralysis, which renders her incapable of moving around. Because she can’t close the door every time someone leaves, mud and sewage often enters her house. What happens during monsoon can only be described as inhuman. “I just pray it does not rain," says the mother of two kids.
Gupta, who has been a resident of the area since childhood, says the only thing that changes here are posters of political parties during elections. “I cannot speak about roads when there aren’t any. I often have to visit a doctor who is just a kilometre away, but I need to plan the trip a day in advance. There are dangerous potholes which turn deadly even with a splash of rain. No cars come here. And cyclists often end up falling and hurting themselves," adds Gupta. Whenever it rains, her children have to bunk their school as the pathway to her house gets flooded with sewage.
Ajit Vihar is not the only place in Burari which has remained neglected despite the changes in government. In the last Assembly election, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjeev Jha, a Purvanchali, won from this seat as the migrant population decided to move beyond their traditional affiliations to the Congress. But little has changed since then.
“We are aware that there are problems of sewerage, sanitation and poor roads, but the fact that you reached my office shows that roads have been built. Since most of the colonies here are unauthorised, there are legal issues involved. We couldn’t force the contractors to hurry up the work as there were a number of holidays in between. After the municipal elections, we will speed up the work," says Jha.
While Jha claims to be confident of voters’ support, Bharatiya Janata Party has aggressively made inroads here even as the Congress is pushing to revive the old connect.
“The municipality’s garbage collection vans never come here and we end up dumping it in the vicinity. Whenever it rains, the garbage flows into our homes. Last year, during the Chikungunya outbreak, we were the worst affected but vaccines and medicines never reached us," says Astha, a 19-year-old labourer from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, who supports a family of three.
Nearby Sant Nagar has similar complaints. Raju Pandey, a tailor, has been stitching clothes with his hands since morning as there is no power. “Half the times I am unable to take orders as the electronic machine is of little use because of frequent power cuts," says Pandey.
“Sheila Dixit never came here, nor did Arvind Kejriwal. Anyone who could afford has left and shifted to better places. During rains, we can’t even step out to buy the essentials. The air is so contaminated that it’s difficult to breathe," says Manoj Srivastava, a resident of West Sant Nagar. “I think BJP would be better as they are a mighty power now," adds Srivastava.
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