An interaction meeting of the Vasant Vihar residents with the Councillor, Himani Jain, was held on 12 May 2024 at Kalyan Kendra. It was the first formal meeting of the residents with the councilor.
The meeting kicked off with Dr. Bagai highlighting the various issues causing concern to the residents such as waste management, security, maintenance of parks, back lanes, traffic, ill legal encroachments etc. However, due to limited time, the interaction remained centered around two main points – waste management and the encroachments in the colony.
On the issue of waste management, Abhishek Jain said that the current mess at the dhalaos has been created by Chinten – the agency engaged by VVWA for waste handling in the colony. The responsibility of waste collection is that of MCD and SSIL is their approved agency for door-to-door collection free of cost. He exhorted the residents to stop paying Chintan for garbage collection and switch over to SSIL, who are providing free service. “Whosoever has any difficulty in disposal of their waste, come to us and we will help,” he added.
On the issue of closure of the dhalaos, he said that he has already taken up the case with MCD for the closure of eight dhalaos. Once the sanction for their closure is received, these dhalaos will be converted into Senior Citizens facilitation centers, Library or any other useful utility.
Some of the residents pointed out that encroachments in the colony were on the increase. Every other day a new vendor springs up adding to the mess already in existence. Abhishek Jain said that removal of the encroachments is the responsibility of MCD. No new license has been issued to any new vendor by MCD. The vendors already in possession of a valid license, their license can be revoked by MCD only. However, to clean up the pavements and the markets, the vendors need to be relocated to alternative locations within the colony.
Abhishek said that the Marshals employed by VVWA are not helping in any way in stopping encroachments. On the contrary, the Marshals are extorting money from the vendors. Forty vendors had come to our house and complained of extortion. In response to their complaint, we have lodged an FIR with the local Police against the Marshals and VVWA, which has never happened before. “Marshals have no authority to deal with the vendors,” he added.
The meeting ended with Himani and Abhishek Jain joining for a cup of tea with the residents.
Samvada Input: We have received a detailed rejoinder by VVWA regarding the allegations levelled against them. We reproduce some excerpts from the same in a separate article on the following page.
