LG blames Delhi govt for bad state of Nangloi-Tikri; AAP hits back | Latest News Delhi

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena on Wednesday urged chief minister-designate Atishi to get the stretch from Nangloi to Tikri border repaired at the earliest, as he found the stretch unusable during a visit on the day due to broken roads, open and overflowing sewers, two-foot potholes and dysfunctional streetlights.

Saxena said the area was neglected and he decided to pay them a visit due to multiple representations from residents, civic groups, area MP and the councillor concerned. He called on departments concerned to fix the issues and officials of Public Works Department (PWD)said remedial measures started on Wednesday night.

“Due to the government’s negligence and related administrative inertia, lakhs of people of West Delhi are forced to live a life worse than hell. Two feet deep potholes and dilapidated roads submerged in sewer water, overflowing drains filled with silt due to lack of cleaning for years, knee-deep stinking water mixed with sewer, water, rotting garbage, backflowing sewer line, hundreds of helpless people expressing their pain and anger amid poisonous insects and mosquitoes were seen during the inspection,” Saxena said.

The LG visited Mundka, Nangloi, Ranikheda, Ranhola, Karala, Kanjhawala and Rohtak Road.

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“The failure of transferred subjects like PWD, MCD, I&FC, DJB and DSIIDC is unforgivable. I had drawn the attention of the chief minister many times before, especially after visiting Sangam Vihar, Kalandar Colony, Kiradi and Burari, towards the poor condition of the people and its solution. I once again draw the attention of the CM and the CM-designate towards this and request them to pay immediate attention to it,” Saxena said.

Officials from the LG office said that during the inspection, residents and children returning from work and school shared their helplessness with Saxena. “Roads in this vast area were mostly broken and there were no streetlights. Buses, cars and two-wheelers had to face great difficulties even for travelling a short distance. As a result of years of neglect, industrial areas have turned into dumping grounds of municipal waste and dangerous water-filled pits,” an official from the LG office said.

CM-designate Atishi, when she was PWD minister, visited the area multiple times in the last year and asked officials to expedite work. The stretch is under repair, with the drain currently being rebuilt, officials of PWDsaid.

The Aam Aadmi Party, in a statement, accused the LG of “consistently creating obstacles in the government’s functioning”.

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“If not for the constant disruptions caused by the LG, either directly or through officers, desilting and sewerage work throughout Delhi would have completed before the onset of monsoon. Be that as it may, the AAP government will ensure that no work shall suffer and the sewerage/desilting work in west Delhi shall also be completed soon,” AAP said.