Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a VERY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.
This is my ardent desire & earnest wish, like all of you, that we make our DWARKA a better[than today], well-governed, managed, maintained & organised sub-city, of which we all- its residents, become proud of & in the next Independence Day speech,the Prime-Minister makes a mention of our `DWARKA Model`, for the other cities & its colonies, to emulate it & the LG & CM Delhi quote about it in their various references!?
You may ask, how can it be possible?
To my mind, it is possible & we can do it all together, if we decide to do it.
Well, here is an ACTION PLAN—–
-Dwarka a well planned sub-city of DDA, presently as per rough estimates has population of about 5.5 lakhs which will increase in the days to come.
-Most of its residents reside in CGHS high rise flats which are managed by the respective RWAs.
-Almost all those residents are very well connected, educated, placed & have been placed[retired] in life.
-Most of them with the grace of God are healthy, have zest for life & possess passion to do some tangible things for the society & thus their Dwarka.
-Their children go to the best of schools-some of these are located in Dwarka, itself.
-Because of their desire to improve their neighbourhood there are many active e-groups operating in the area.some of the ones which I am aware about are-Dwarka Forum, Sukh Dukh Kay Saathi & many groups of the ladies.
-They engage on regular basis with the concerned authorities for many local civic issues & as well send out reports about the meetings to their google-group members.
-There are very active, vigilant & well read neighbourhood newspapers, portals like Dwarka Parichay & local Radio network-Dwarka Radio which specialise in Dwarka activities & events etc etc.
Besides, there are well aware- youth & active residents of many transformed villages in this area
It is however felt as under-
-Their need to be aggressive & active engagement from the concerned civic authorities-DDA,MCD, BSES, DJB, MTNL, DTC,Delhi Metro,various service providers like IGL, AirTel,Vodafone,Tata Sky,Police i/c Traffic Police,Environment Department of Delhi Govt etc etc to CONVERSE on regular basis, with Dwarka residents & its civil-society groups i/c Schools-Principals,Institutes-Directors,representatives of RWAs & Traders Associations,to seek their ideas & support on regular basis to help them in keeping Dwarka improved & well maintained.
The residents & traders are BIG ASSETS.
Let the senior officers of these civic bodies, Police, service providers shed their EGO, & set up a CARING system which lends ears to the hardships & urgent needs of the residents & then ACT to solve these problems e.g. encroachment in the markets, proper parking of vehicles i/c parking/transport woes, arbitrary toeing of vehicles, scarcity of water, broken roads-footpaths, garbage mis-management, non working traffic lights,inadequate road-signs/names, to name a few.
I, have been, myself, an official of a New Delhi Local Body for about 35 years & as per my personal experience, a little effort & initiative from the authorities will get BIG positive response from the PUBLIC & CIVIL SOCIETY of Dwarka
As the DIRECTOR of Giraffe Heroes India Program,we plan to start `OUR DWARKA CONVERSATIONS`[details in my next mail] in association with DWARKA PARICHAY & some other like minded organisations to involve the elected representatives, Authorities & Dwarka -Residents/ Traders, to start with, in giving on REGULAR basis, ideas to better Dwarka & then making joint efforts to IMPLEMENT those ideas.
I also again invite the residents to send their nominations for the commendations of GIRAFFE HEROES. More details about it, are at
www.giraffe.org/giraffe-heroes-india
or with Dwarka Parichay
With my very best wishes
& GREETINGS on the INDEPENDENCE DAY.
Vijay K. Saluja
Ex Chief Engineer[civil] New Delhi Municipal Council
Ex President ,IIT Delhi Alumni Association
& Senior Fellow-Institute of Social Sciences,New Delhi www.issin.org
