Broken roads, overflowing gutters; Bijwasan expects candidates to focus on development

New Delhi: Bijwasan is one of the 70 constituencies of Delhi that will be going to vote on February 8. A jaat majority village, Bijwasan is located near Dwarka and also has a migrated population from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand. With an overall population of 1,86,482 Bijwasan has an electoral population of 1,17,580 – out of which 66,245 are males and 51,334 are women. People in the constituency have complained of bad roads and gutter situation, which has created a menace in the day-to-day livelihood of the people and they are set to vote on grounds of development.

While entering the village area, one will notice the broken roads making it difficult for vehicles to pass by. Rajesh, who owns a grocery shop in the area spoke to Millennium Post about the development work. "No matter which party comes, no development work has ever taken place here. You can see the condition of the roads for yourself, it gets worse as you keep entering the village area," he said.

The village has narrow stinking gutters which are overflowing. It is also divided by railway lines that cross the area. The constituency was dominated by Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sat Prakash Rana, who was elected in two consecutive elections from this seat. In 2015 Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Col Devinder Sehrawat bagged 65,006 votes, however, the party has fielded BS Joon this time. From Congress, Parveen Rana will be contesting the elections. "Sat Prakash Rana is a man from this village. A lot of improvement took place under him," said Ram Prakash, who hails from Bihar but is a resident of Bijwasan.

On the other hand, Rajesh while disagreeing with him said: "What development? Neither AAP nor BJP has done any work to improve the condition of the village." But he added that the condition of electricity has improved a lot since AAP came to power. "Before 2015 we had issues of electricity but that is gone now, I would accept that. Water condition has also improved," he added.

The village people seem to be divided between Rana's (BJP candidate) loyalty and AAP's promises. Two women who live on rent in the area said that for them no matter which party comes it is always a struggle. "However, we did get some solace when it came to electricity and water bills," said Beena who hails from Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, Rekha who hails from Uttar Pradesh said that

they will vote on the basis of which party is gaining momentum. "We will vote for whoever most of the villagers are voting," she said.

All the people the correspondent talked to in the area had complained about the development issues and will vote for the party that promises to work on these issues.