At poll-bound Rajinder Nagar, water & parking on top of voters’ minds

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While the urban areas have a predominantly Punjabi population, the villages have a mixed demography comprising Jats, Yadavs and Rajputs. Purvanchalis too live in large numbers in the area.

At Naraina, which comprises Purvanchalis, Punjabis, Muslims, Khatiks (Dalit) and Rajputs, water and sewer issues are on top of residents’ minds. The area also has 50,000 of 1,80,000 voters in Rajinder Nagar.

Narendra Kumar Tomar, who was into the business of blueline buses and is now retired, said: “As summer peaks, the water problem also increases. The earlier MLA (Chadha) was the Delhi Jal Board head and we thought that he would end the problem. But he has now gone to Punjab. There are weeks when water comes once in a day in several pockets. There are also problems of sewage getting mixed with drinking water…”

Arun Kumar, a shopkeeper, added, “In the past 15 years, the population of the village has doubled but sewer pipes are of the same length. It should have been replaced.”

At New Rajinder Nagar, residents said infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with the real estate boom. “Most houses are now builder flats. Water and sewer lines were built for a limited number of people, but the added pressure has led to choked sewers…,” said Deepu Chibber, a resident.

The constituency also has several slum clusters, including a few around Naraina Industrial Area. At R block jhuggi near Ratanpuri Chowk, which has around 200 jhuggis, residents said their main issue is lack of adequate community toilets. “Over the past few years, maintenance of these toilets has improved. But there are only 10 for over 200 jhuggis. We have to wait for hours to use them,” said Noor Jahan, a resident.

The seat fell vacant after area MLA Raghav Chadha was nominated by the AAP to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. Chadha had won by a margin of 20,000 votes against BJP’s R P Singh in the 2020 Delhi assembly polls.

For the high-stakes bypoll, the AAP has fielded MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak as its candidate while the BJP announced former councillor Rajesh Bhatia (57) as its pick. The Congress fielded its former councillor, Prem Lata.

Pathak, who led a padyatra in the constituency Sunday, said: “… Everyone agreed that CM Arvind Kejriwal had ensured the development of their locality and would continue to do so in the future. They want an MLA who represents the government that they have put their faith in, and the government that has always delivered on its promises.”

BJP’s Bhatia said, “It is a battle of local vs outsider. I was born here, I know the problems of people… AAP has not been able to solve the water issue despite the local MLA being the DJB head…”