5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
BJP leader writes to CM, highlights dismal state of Chandni Chowk area
NEW DELHI: Highlighting the extremely poor administrative conditions of the Chandni Chowk Assembly, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor has requested CM Rekha Gupta to conduct an administrative inspection of the Old Delhi area. The BJP spokesperson has alleged that all the MLAs and councillors in Old Delhi belong to the Aam Aadmi Party and that they neither did any work while in power nor are focusing on development now.
Kapoor, in a letter to the CM, stated that area MP Praveen Khandelwal has conducted four inspections over the past year, but officials from the police, PWD, DJB, and MCD have not taken any action.
He said that the Chandni Chowk beautification project has completely failed — the market has become a jungle of illegal encroachments, unmanaged parking, filth, and rickshaws. Roads and footpaths are broken across areas like Cycle Market, Diwan Hall Road, Bhagirath Palace, Main Chandni Chowk, Church Mission Road, Khari Baoli, Lahori Gate Chowk, Chawri Bazaar, and Sitaram Bazaar.
Around Town Hall, illegal parking is being operated through the collusion of some corrupt police and municipal officials — with illegal daily collections amounting to lakhs of rupees. Along Chandni Chowk's main road, unlicensed food stalls are openly being operated by Muslims — who are opening shops under Hindu or neutral names. 'I request you to kindly make a visit to assess the poor conditions of this area and the neighboring constituencies of Ballimaran, Sadar Bazar, and Matia Mahal, and issue appropriate directives for necessary corrective action,' Kapoor added in his letter.
For the CM's review, Praveen has stated that in the entire constituency stretching from Majnu Ka Tila to Delhi Gate and from Azad Market to Kisan Ghat, the Delhi Jal Board has only one Junior Engineer (JE), two mates (laborers), no Assistant Engineer (AE), and no Executive Engineer (EE). This one JE has also recently been assigned as the nodal officer at the CM's office, so he now only works half-days in the constituency. In the Sadar area of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, there is no regular Deputy Commissioner — Additional Commissioner Leeladhar is only skilled in blocking work.
He has also added that whatever little work gets done is purely due to the grace of the Commissioner. In Chandni Chowk Ward No. 74, the JE from the Maintenance Department who was sincerely working has been transferred due to the insistence of a corrupt senior officer at headquarters. The new JE, Kailash Yadav, does not report to duty for four days a week. Public Works Department (PWD) officers are tired of appealing to their seniors — no one listens. Despite a ban, vehicles — especially scooters — are freely plying in Chandni Chowk, but the Delhi Traffic Police is nowhere to be seen.