NEW DELHI: Built to house refugees coming from Pakistan after partition, Lajpat Nagar is now not only one of the upscale localities in the southern part of the city but also home to one of the largest garment markets—Central Market.
It also houses colonies such as Amar Colony, Dayanand Colony, Double Storey, National Park, and Vikram Vihar. The majority of the residents are in businesses dominated by Punjabis, Khatris, and Sindhis.
Moreover, Lajpat Nagar is one such locality with two members of parliament (MPs) since it’s divided into two constituencies: East and New Delhi. The residents complain that due to dual constituency, their grievances keep shuffling between the MPs and, most of the time, remain unresolved.
Kuldeep Kumar, a resident of Lajpat nagar who also runs a business, said even though the market and residential area are unified, due to the asymmetrical boundaries, people in the same ward have to approach different MPs for common issues.
“A part of our area comes into New Delhi, and the remaining falls into East Delhi. In fact, in Lajpat 1 & 2, multiple blocks are divided into separate constituencies. We face multiple issues due to this non-uniform division. Suppose if a reconstruction of roads is needed, then we have to approach different MPs since the same road falls into two constituencies,” he said.
“Despite having 90 per cent of traders living in the area, people have to go to East Delhi MP for market related issues and New Delhi for residential issues. But the residents are common,” he added. Residents demand that the area should be reorganised into a single constituency and preferably into New Delhi.
“Firstly, east Delhi is a vast area, so the MP will not have much time to address our issues. Secondly, the social class and demography is in sync with New Delhi areas,” said Raghav Bhutani,a resident of Lajpat Nagar I.
Secretary of the area’s RWA, Lalit Vohra, listed other issues the locality is facing, which primarily include haphazard parking and a security threat from encroachment.
“Parking is a major issues here. It leads to congestion, vehicular traffic, and pollution. Due to this, the AQI in the area also remains bad,” he said.“Crores of rupees were collected for parking facilities under the Master Plan of Delhi 2021. There is no clear policy in this regard. A practical solution should come,” Vohra added. Flagging security issues, he said, “Many times, we have seen ragpickers doing petty crimes like theft of AC wires and other articles. Since they are juveniles, police don’t take action,” he added.
Over encroachment, he said, “At each gate, more than 50 vendors have established their shops, narrowing roads.”
‘Problems unresolved’
Lajpat Nagar is one such locality with two members of parliament (MPs) since it’s divided into two constituencies: East and New Delhi. The residents complain that due to dual constituency, their grievances keep shuffling between the MPs and, most of the time, remain unresolved.