DWARKA- WAITING FOR CIVIC ATTENTION

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Vijay K. Saluja

Well, being a recent resident of DWARKA [shifted only a few months back], I have been reading with great admiration & interest the mails about poor civic conditions of Dwarka & various suggestions to improve the same,being exchanged almost everyday, between various residents.

I must say, it is really admirable & fortunate for Dwarka to have alert residents like that & certainly, they are the big ASSETS, of this Sub-City, which is going to grow in many positive & negative ways, in the days to come?!

As it is,this locality planned with great care, by DDA is showing at many many places, signs of civic distress thus causing great discomfort & inconvenience to the users of that area.

And the areas are -to name a few,
Very ill-maintained under pass at Pushpanjali Farms side.
Ill maintenace of roads.traffic lights/parks/openspaces.

Chatic conditions in markets
Poor garbage management
Encroachment in markets.
Law & order problem
Chaotic traffic.


The under pass which we all know, turned into a pond last week,causing closure of the traffic & thus causing immense misery to the daily commuters/office-goers.

Why it happened & many many questions related to it is a matter of a separate detailed discussion, but the reality is something is seriously missing in the existing drainage system.

Like the drainage system,the other basic services & infrastructure requires sustainable over-haul/maintenance.
How to go about it ,in an effective time-bound manner?

Well, having been in a local civic body all my life, I feel, there is some thing more & also different, which needs to be done by Dwarka Parichay, Dwarka Forum & the various stakeholders-elected representatives, authorities, civil society, residents, traders, visitors etc etc.

I feel all of them want improvement,but could be having some constraints.

The need is to create SYNERGY for Better Dwarka, at all times.
A difficult task but achievable!?
So, let us do it.

Writer is a Senior Fellow in Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
& Ex Chief Engineer[civil] , New Delhi Municipal Council & Ex President, IIT Delhi Alumni Association