Owing to various measures by the Government for sprucing up infrastructure in the Trans-Yamuna region in the recent past, majority of localities falling under laxmi Nagar Assembly are enjoying better civic amenities than their counterparts. While better roads, connectivity, power and water supply are still a dream in other constituencies of East Delhi, this segment has been flourishing particularly following access to Metro services.
During the preparation of Commonwealth Games 2010, laxmi Nagar, one of the most thickly populated neighborhoods in the city, witnessed remarkable development with the creation of a network of smooth roads and flyovers. As the number of private vehicles have increased manifold in the city, laxmi Nagar is also marred by persistent problems of congestions, traffic jams and inadequate parking lots. However, it will not be an exaggeration, if it is termed as the showcase of East Delhi Parliamentary constituency.
Congress MlA AK Walia represents the seat and has never tasted defeat since 1993. Before delimitation in 2008, the constituency was known as Geeta Colony and Walia has been winning the seat since the beginning. locals gave him credit for infrastructural boom here. However, there seems to be a general dissatisfaction among a significant chunk of voters who said that Congress leader has failed to resolve two major problems of the area. Most residents complain of poor water quality forcing them to rely on private water for consumption and lack of proper drainage and overflowing sewage.
“Water is the major problem here. At times the pressure is low and on other occasions water is smelly and dirty. We buy water cans of 20 litres from the market for drinking purposes,” said Manju Videh, a resident of Ganesh Nagar. “What used to be single or two-storeyed homes have now turned into huge buildings with minimum four floors. There is immense pressure on the tiny drains as their diameters have remained the same, but the population has only been increasing,” said Yogender Singh, a resident of laxmi Nagar.
Apart from these local issues, there is visible discontentment among inhabitants of the constituency because of escalating rise in prices of vegetables, petrol and corruption. However, the BJP may fail to encash on the opportunity due to an ‘unknown’ candidate nominated by it. Abhay Verma, the BJP’s nominee, is a first timer and people of the constituency consider him as an outsider.
The party has chosen Verma, a Poorvanchali considering the sizeable presence of migrant votes here. The candidate of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — Vinod Kumar Binny — has also failed to impress them. “Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years. It is high time for a change. I was eagerly waiting for the BJP to announce its list, but was disappointed when it was finally out. No one here knows who Abhay Verma is nor have we ever seen him work for the constituency. The party should have given the ticket to an experienced person like BB Tyagi with whom everyone could connect to. Unlike Verma, we all know who Walia is and what work he has done in the previous years,” said Kamal Chauhan, a businessman and a resident of Shakurpur.