Defence colony may be more than 7 decades old but looking at the basic civic issues faced by the residents it seems the last few RWA’s have failed to do the needful to make some visible improvements. Following issues have been reported by Samvada every month in the last few years but instead of working on them, the residents are facing them daily. Some of them even moved out of colony due to acute difficulties faced by them and no support was given even after many complaints and follow ups!
• Poor Roads Continues: The roads are in shabby condition and matches any jhuggi jhopri colony. The residents keep begging, requesting for re-carpeting of roads but the excuse given by the MLA and councillor is “non availability of funds”. We are paying maximum taxes but still not getting our share of basic requirements.
• Poor Sanitation is Making Def Col Look Shabby: More than 80% of back lanes are full of malba. The residents keep requesting for regular cleaning but the funny resolution done by RWA team is by showing pictures of 1-2 lanes cleaned “due to their own efforts”! What a pity to keep boasting of making this colony livable!
• Poor Street Lights Adding to More Dark Spots – More than 40% street lights are either not working or hidden by overgrown trees. There are many dark spots in the colony which are vulnerable to crime but getting a new pole has been a challenge for many years!
• Traffic Jams: Due to mismanagement of gate operations, the outsiders are trespassing daily especially during the peak hours to ensure long traffic jams in this small colony. This is a unique colony where passing the buck is quite easy to pass the time to complete tenure at various posts. As we all face the issue of traffic jams, especially when entering the colony during the evening (6-8 PM) there is no visible solution to streamline the traffic flow which is now resulting in daily fights, abuse and sometimes accidents. The only way is manage the colony gates properly and make them one-side flow to keep the traffic under control. Many nearby colonies Like GK-1, Panchsheel are managing the traffic professionally which is keeping their residents safe at all times. The RWA team must visit these colonies to understand and then use their success stories in our colony.
• Encroachments – Maximum public land is grabbed by the residents, commercial tenants who even grab the service lanes for their staff and visitor parking. There are daily fights among residents and these outsiders for wrong parking. The old issues of residents encroaching the public land by creating illegal ramps at the entrance keep big pots, building guard rooms, car parking with chains, Gardens, generators in the back lanes. The residents must know that they have no rights to use even one inch of space outside their plots and very soon action will be taken to remove these illegal encroachments with heavy penalties. The major issue is “who will bell the cat” as the councilor’s term is over, MLA is hardly visible, MP will come only during election time, RWA’s have no powers to take action. MCD people are already missing from action!! This is a major issue and if not resolved, will result into a big mess where everyone will grab maximum public land on the garb of beautification, safety etc!!
