Dwarka: A group of villages to residential hub in Delhi

Dwarka, initially referred to as the Pankha Road scheme, was called Papankalan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Residents found this name unattractive, and it was later changed to Dwarka

Spread over 56 square km, Dwarka is Delhi’s third sub-city, besides Narela and Rohini, and was planned in the 1980s to feed an ever-growing city’s burgeoning appetite for affordable housing.

Construction underway near the Dwarka Expressway near Bhartal village in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The sub-city was carved out from 11 villages — Palam, Bagdola, Nasirpur, Dabri, Bindapur, Amber Hai, Kakrola, Pochanpur, Bharthal, Dulsiras and Bamnoli as part of the Master Plan of Delhi-2001, to accommodate 1.1 million people.

Dwarka, initially referred to as the Pankha Road scheme in Delhi Development Authority (DDA) records, was named Papankalan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “But this name wasn’t attractive, and DDA didn’t get much positive feedback from the public. It was later renamed Dwarka,” said Sabyasachi Das, former planning commissioner in-charge at DDA, who was involved in the planning of Dwarka.

Despite residential development picking up, the overall growth of the area has not kept up with the rising needs of local residents. While there are several private hospitals in the area, the Delhi government-run Indira Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, the construction of which started in 2014, is still not fully operational. The state government started a Covid-19 facility and OPD services at the hospital only last year.

While road links to neighbouring areas are still patchy, intra-city public transport was a huge problem till a few years back.

Sudha Sinha, president of the Federation of CGHS Dwarka, a grouping of resident welfare associations, who moved to this sub-city in 2000, said, “For years, we were dependent on personal transport for even short distance commute. But now we have e-rickshaws, though there is no public bus transport within the sub-city.”

Till 2013, the area also faced a crippling water crisis. Large water tanks, even for ground floor homes, were a common sight in the area. Sinha said, “Societies were dependent on groundwater. Even today, it has not been completely resolved. The authorities took it seriously when the local residents raised the issue forcefully ahead of the 2012 municipal and 2013 assembly elections.”

Sinha said that the upcoming development in the area is welcome, and long overdue. “Dwarka needs systematic, careful planning, and new infrastructure should be planned in a manner that are in sync with the requirement of the population.”