Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar, on a constituency round, is a hard man to please

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Minutes after the inspection round began, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) workers, armed with brooms, could be seen cleaning the street as the Law Minister walked around in the area. This gesture by the corporation, however, did not seem to go down well with Tomar.

Even as the officials tried to explain that they had been working day and night to make the area clean before his visit, Tomar said, “This is an inspection round by a minister and government officials. These men are cleaning the streets right now. Everywhere we go, we are greeted with dust. You are making them clean the streets before us. Is this the kind of welcome that you are giving us?”

Elaborating on the issues plaguing the constituency, Tomar said, “Sewer lines were laid in this area around forty years ago. In these 40 years, the number of houses increased and so did the number of floors in buildings. Now, they are all three or four storey structures. The load on the sewer lines has increased.

But the diameter of pipes have remained the same. Delhi has had a government since 1993. but none of the elected representatives thought that as habitation and population increases, these lines need to be replaced. Not an inch of these lines was replaced.”

Tomar also elaborated on the steps that the AAP government was planning to take. “Ten days ago, we decided, in a meeting with people from RWAs, the MCD and DJB at the secretariat, that in phases all sewer lines in Trinagar wards will be replaced and the diameter of these pipes will increase. As these sewer lines get replaced, the MCD will also work on construction of roads.

Moreover, because of the issue of sewer lines, water supply in this area is dirty. There is less pressure when people use water metres and overflowing sewers result in dirty water supply,” Tomar said.