Delhi is again protesting. After Jantar Mantar’s agitation for better education system, now people are demanding better civic amenities.
On Sunday, Thousands of residents staged a protest in the national capital demanding better roads, drainage and sewage systems and sought immediate action.
The residents staged a ‘chakka jam’ under the umbrella of ‘Voice of Burari’ holding up traffic in different places in the area to showcase the gravity of the situation. The police had to be mustered in at Burari Chowk as the number of protesters swelled. The protesters claimed that due to large scale water-logging and pitted roads travel by students, senior citizens, women and even two-wheelers have become absolutely hazardous.
They also said that roads like the main 100 foot road were in need of immediate resurfacing.
A memorandum was submitted to the Lt Governor of Delhi Taranjit Singh Sandhu seeking time bound resolution of the long pending civic issues. The residents threatened to step up their indefinite protest in a ‘democratic and Gandhian’ manner if their representation before the concerned authorities does not yield results by September 16, 2013.
Congress leader Mangesh Tyagi, president of the Karawal Nagar district committee, and also the head of the Federations of RWA Burari, said that the residents were staging protests after having been pushed into the wall by the authorities.
“We are sorry that we have created this kind of problem on the roads, but all the MPs, MLA and councillors concerned should know that the condition of our roads, water and drainage is absolutely unacceptable to us,” he said.
Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha was unavailable for a comment while BJP MP Manoj Tiwari represents his parliamentary constituency North East Delhi from.
The protesters said that they were not out to harass commuters but were seeking a dialogue to resolve the perennial civic problems and sought regular updates on the status of various works being undertaken.