Vishwas Nagar: traffic problems plague well-connected area

Spread out along the Delhi-Ghaziabad Metro line on Vikas Marg, colonies in the Vishwas Nagar assembly constituency seem well connected.

Spread out along the Delhi-Ghaziabad Metro line on Vikas Marg, colonies in the Vishwas Nagar assembly constituency seem well connected.

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Apart from a multi-modal transport facility at Anand Vihar, the colonies boast of good commercial pockets, and banking and educational institutions in Preet Vihar. A large community of professionals, including chartered accountants, lives in these colonies. There are about 100 housing societies in IP Extension alone.

But there's a flip side to this seemingly-prosperous constituency. Traffic jams are order of the day -- right from PVR Chowk to Yamuna Sports Complex towards the UP border. It takes 10 minutes just to cross a drain that divides Preet Vihar and AGCR Colony.

In Shivam Enclave, Kasturba Nagar and New Vishwas Nagar, poor sanitation angers residents. One smart shower and there is flooding everywhere. Dug-up areas, which are "left like that forever", compound their woes.

Snatching worries residents in Jagrati Enclave, Surajmal Vihar and Karkarduma. Traffic jams do not let anything move even on smaller stretches. In Preet Vihar, Swasthya Vihar and IP Extension, sewage pipelines overflow. When water does not smell or is not "colourful", the supply is not sufficient. In Madhu Vihar, residents complain that a road has remained dug up for more than two years.

The four East Delhi Municipal Corporation wards in this constituency are Vishwas Nagar, Preet Vihar, Anand Vihar and IP Extension. There are some villages such as Karkarduma, Ghazipur and Hasanpur.

Atul Gupta, Aam Aadmi Party candidate for this constituency, said, "Thirty-three of the 36 parks in the area have been encroached upon for housing and industries. Yamuna Sports Complex is open only to the elite."

The 14 slum clusters in the constituency are used only for votes. Their residents continue living in hellish conditions - poor sanitation is the order of the day.

Another grouse is shifting of industries to Bawana, which many factory owners feel is a far-off location and unsafe too. "The units must be shifted to Patparganj, Jhilmil or Dilshad Garden," Gupta said.

The plight of Ghazipur, the area where the local MLA lives, is no different. Waterlogging is a chronic problem there.

Om Prakash of the BJP, who lost to Congress' Naseeb Singh by a margin of about 9,500 votes in the last elections, said lessons have been learnt. And things will change this time around. "Modi ji beda paar karenge (Narendra Modi will help us tide over the problem)," he said.