Delhi's Saket plagued by vendors, trash

The upmarket locality in South Delhi is struggling to control the growing encroachments and garbage menace
The fountain inside PVR Anupam is filled with discarded food packagin (Photo | Arun Kumar, EPS)
The fountain inside PVR Anupam is filled with discarded food packagin (Photo | Arun Kumar, EPS)

NEW DELHI: Known for Select City Walk, one of the biggest shopping malls in the city, the South
Delhi residential colony of Saket has for long been battling poor garbage disposal and street encroachments. Outside the Vidya Niketan School, near the Saket Metro station, a garbage dump surrounded by a number of street vendors has become a major problem for the residents of D Block.
According to WC Chhabra, President Emeritus, Resident Welfare Association (RWA) D Block, the authorities have failed to address this issue.

Chhabra complained that although the RWA and the school demanded the relocation of the garbage dump, no action has been taken and the dump is seldom cleaned and improperly maintained.

“We have been writing to the public grievance commission repeatedly since 2011. We were told efficient garbage composting will be taken up but nothing has happened yet. The school has now taken up cleaning on their own. Sometimes, when we complain, the authorities take up the matter only to drop it a few days later,” Chhabra told The Morning Standard.

With most streets lined with vendors, residents believe that  the crowds gathered around the stalls regularly slow down the traffic in the area.“Traffic jams are common near the PVR Anupam side of the locality. The encroachments are endangering the lives of the pedestrians as well as drivers. Traffic management is an issue we have raised with the authorities concerned multiple times but only empty promises are made,” lamented Retd Colonel Khanna, another resident of the area.

Chhabra also pointed to the dilapidated condition of a nearby fountain, which was constructed for beautification inside PVR Anupam, one of the landmarks of the upmarket residential locality.  
Kishanwati, the area’s councillor, explained that she had tried to beautify the fountain in the past but was unable to do so due to the non-cooperation of one of the area’s RWAs.

“I tried to refill the fountain with mud to grow flowering plants inside and got the two RWAs on board. However, one of them backed out and opposed our efforts. I can help change things but without public cooperation, it is not possible,” she added.

Sunil Tandon, a senior resident spoke in a stiff tone against the stray animal menace in the locality. Kishanwati, however, said that she is helpless when it came to the stray animals issue. “I understand that this is a huge problem for the residents but the civic bodies need to take care of it and they lack a proper program to tackle the problem,” she said.

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