Rohini: BJP MLA claims credit for road Jain inaugurated
New Delhi: Rohini is fast emerging as one of the central points of friction between the BJP and the AAP ahead of the upcoming MCD elections.
On Wednesday, when Delhi minister Satyendar Jain inaugurated a motorable road and a sewer line in Raja Vihar, an unauthorised colony in Delhi, BJP MLA Vijender Gupta was found staging a protest around the venue, claiming credit for the work done. Significantly, locals shared that Gupta has come forward and even "inaugurated the two projects officially".
The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation had acquired the land by compensating the previous owner with three plots of land in Bawana and restored public rights over the land.
PWD & Water Minister Satyendar Jain also inaugurated a refurbished version of the defunct sewer line, that is now linked to the Rithala sewer line through the local pumping station — expected to cut through the tanker mafia.
All three MCDs are now under a BJP administration and the AAP's MCD leader Durgesh Pathak has over the last year turned up the heat on what he has called "scams" in these administrations. However, the efforts of Jain's departments to reacquire the land points to two problems unaddressed by the municipality — one, that land records are not digitised and another, that the registrars who are may be compromised.
Rohini in North West Delhi has elected a BJP MLA Vijender Gupta in 2015 and 2020 despite the Capital-wide wave in favour of the AAP in both elections.
He has served as a councillor for three terms and enjoys a good reputation with the locals, mainly due to his approachability and his championing of the rights of the trader community.
AAP's progressive policies geared at uplifting the poorer sections of society, with free medicines, electricity and quality public education. Although the moves are fiscally prudent, the BJP has consistently attempted to prove to traders that the common man benefits as the party loots the exchequer to dole out its populist schemes.
One of the poll issues in 2020 was unauthorised colonies. In 2015, Kejriwal's government amended the MLALAD guidelines to allow the elected representatives to spend their funds in these colonies. Before that, corruption and interference by municipal councillors hindered projects in these areas. As a result, internal roads were built and drainage was fixed.
"In the recent by-elections, we made inroads into Sector 23 & 24 in Rohini and in Shalimar Bagh. These are both areas where people live in apartments. Historically, urbanised pockets in constituencies like Vishwas Nagar, Patparganj have voted for the BJP. But given the MCD's misrule and the credit hogging the BJP indulges in, people are fed up," said Durgesh Pathak, AAP's MCD prabhari.
