My City, My vote: ‘If we want a Viksit Bharat, sanitation is the first issue we need to address,’ says economist Santosh Panda

Issue concerning his constituency:

“One of the biggest issues in our constituency is sanitation. Our elected representative has been from the BJP for a decade now. Every morning, I go down to the sports complex for a walk… the roads are so filthy. It has not changed in the last 10-15 years. There is so much talk about Swachhata Abhiyan and the capital city of our country is so filthy… No matter which political party comes to power, if we want a Viksit Bharat, this is the first issue we need to address.”

Agenda for Delhi’s new government:

“We think twice about whether we should step out of the house for dinner at night. In my family, there have been incidents of chain snatching. My wife’s gold chain with a diamond pendant was snatched five years ago. That incident made my family feel unsafe to venture out in the evening. So there needs to be more focus on law and order. There have also been incidents where bags have been snatched from people while they are traveling in an auto-rickshaw… police are completely inactive… Snatching wasn’t this rampant 15 years ago…”

“The issue of traffic is also big. There should be strict implementation of lane driving. Whenever I go out and drive for 4-5 km, I don’t feel safe because traffic is so haphazard… There are cattle roaming around on the streets… within the city, on national highways, everywhere… Things haven’t improved in the past decade. In fact, it has become worse. The population of the city has increased over the years while our roads and other infrastructure haven’t expanded to match it.”

“There is a lack of last-mile connectivity while using public transport in the city. Working women, especially those who return home late, don’t feel safe because there isn’t last-mile public transport connectivity”.