Inadequate parking space hassles Shakarpur residents

Even as the national capital yearns to break into the league of international cities, some parts of the city are still crying for basic amenities like a garbage dumping spot, regular cleaning of sewage and drains.

These are some of the basic demands of the residents of Shakarpur municipal constituency in East Delhi apart from universal problems like parking space and unauthorised construction. The candidates have promised earliest solution to their problems which have not been addressed for years.

“At present, the place to dump garbage is located right inside the colony near Sanjay Park. It’s an open dumping spot, which makes it difficult for people in the area to even cross the place, but people can't avoid it as well. The dumping ground must be  outside the colony or at least it should be covered temporarily,” said Madhav Sharma, a local resident. 

Earlier, there were six garbage dumping spots in the area, but now only the Sanjay Park spot is in use, the residents said. 

 Opening a Mother Dairy booth and branch of a nationalised bank are among the other demands of the residents. 

“Despite being in the vicinity of the Mother Dairy factory, the colony does not have an outlet of the dairy, causing day-to-day problem for the residents. Besides, the area also does not have a branch of nationalised bank. Only Vikas Marg has such branches,” said Ravindra Kochar, chairman, Shakarpur Main Market Traders Association. 

Kochar is campaigning for Congress candidate Radhe Shyam Gupta. He promises that once Gupta comes to power, these demands would be met at the earliest.  
     The entire constituency which constitutes of Shakurpur, South Ganesh Nagar and Mandawali has over 55,000 voters.  

The unauthorised colony which was regularised in the 70’s has witnessed massive illegal construction which has put tremendous pressure on the basic infrastructure. 

“The uncontrolled construction has made the area densely populated. The area, which is close to ITO, has many institutes like that of chartered accountants, is in great demand from students for residential purpose. Several coaching centres are also run here,” said Suresh, a resident and campaigner of BJP candidate Sushil Upadhyay.    
 He also said that parking woes continue to haunt the residents as most of the lanes are not more than ten-foot in width. Suresh added that people are forced to park their vehicles in the neighbouring malls due to space crunch.

 “Providing a multi-level parking is one of the major priorities on Sushil’s agenda,” Suresh claimed.