From the desire for small pleasures, such as more outings to India Gate and Red Fort, to functional needs, such as easing travel time, the residents of North West Delhi constituency wonder aloud how different their lives could be if they were better connected to the rest of the city.
Babita Panchal, 35, says better metro connectivity could make a world of difference for her 15-year-old disabled son, who would be able to go to a school better suited to his needs. “He used to go to a school for children with special needs in Rohini, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, the shuttle stopped coming this way, so I had no option but to withdraw him,” she says, seated inside their three-room house in a crowded semi-pucca lane in Qutubgarh, Kanjhawala.
In the constituency, the Delhi Metro’s Red Line currently covers parts of Rohini and ends at Rithala. However, a large part of the constituency beyond Rithala finds itself cut off from the rest of Delhi, with commuters having no choice but to travel to far-flung stations like Samaypur Badli or Mundka to avail the metro’s services.
According to the Delhi government’s Economic Survey 2023-24, a metro plan connecting Rithala, Bawana and Narela is under way under the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s Phase IV. The 26.46-km network will have 21 stations, and a separate project report for extending the Rithala-Narela corridor till Kundli in Haryana has also been completed and submitted for approval.
However, locals in north-west Delhi say that the promise of a metro in their area has gone unfulfilled for over 10 years.
‘False assurances’
This year, the reserved North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, which comprises 10 Assembly segments, is primed for a battle between INDIA bloc’s Congress candidate Udit Raj, and the BJP’s Yogender Chandoliya. In 2019, BJP candidate Hans Raj Hans won the seat with over 8,48,663 votes, defeating AAP’s Gugan Singh Ranga and Congress’ Rajesh Lilothia.
Earlier this week, Mr. Raj said he would be seeking votes on the basis of the work he had done in the constituency from 2014 to 2019, when he was a Member of Parliament from the seat on a BJP ticket. He also pledged to expedite the stalled metro project.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chandoliya at rallies has been reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “guarantees” of development, saying that that every part of the country, including North West Delhi, has been transformed by BJP rule in the last 10 years.
Plans of extending the metro have featured prominently in all candidates’ promises since 2014. However, while the metro has managed to reach satellite cities, parts of north-west Delhi still remain uncovered by its routes, says Paras Tyagi, president of Centre for Youth, Culture, Law and Environment.
“The metro has reached Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, but work in areas such as Rithala, Narela and Rohini, which are part of Delhi, is still lagging behind. This unfairly impacts the people who live in these areas,” he says.
Even as construction work under the DMRC’s Phase IV has started in other parts of the Capital, it is yet to begin in north-west Delhi, he adds. Under Phase IV, the first three priority corridors include Majlis Park to Maujpur via Burari, R.K. Ashram to Janakpuri (West), and Aerocity to Tughlaqabad.
‘Basic amenities lacking’
The constituency, dotted with vast fields in some villages and closely-packed houses in others, is home to many who have moved from farming to other professions. The 2011 census pegs the total population in the constituency at over 36 lakh people.
Praveen Sharma, 26, who has grown up in Kanjhawala and is currently working as a nurse in Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital in Karol Bagh, says the people in the area are cut off from the rest of Delhi. “I grew up here, but the development here has been stagnant for years. There have been no new hospitals or malls that have come up in the region,” he says, adding that just to get to work, he has to change two bus routes and two metro lines, on which he spends two hours for just a one-way commute.
Ms. Panchal’s father-in-law, Rameshwar, a retired civil servant, echoes the sentiment. “Despite spending 40 years here, our locality still doesn’t have the same amenities as the rest of the city,” the 80-year-old says.
Ms. Panchal, who has three children and whose husband works as a DTC conductor, says that even a job such as packing deliveries from home would help keep the family afloat. “There are no jobs in the area that I can do nearby while taking care of my children,” she says, adding that the eight members of the family depend on her husband, the breadwinner. “I will vote for the party that can assure us of overall development and bring more jobs and amenities to the area, such as the metro,” she adds.
She says that four months ago, when she was delivering her youngest, she had to arrange for a car to take her to a government hospital in Haryana. Her father-in-law chimes in, “There are no fire stations or functional hospitals nearby, and no party has done a thing about it.” The closest fire station, the family says, is at least an hour away.
The metro, too, is inconvenient. “When travelling by metro, we start from either the Mundka or Narela station, both of which take at least an hour to reach by bus,” Ms. Panchal says, adding that they almost feel like they are not a part of Delhi.
Residents of Qutubgarh complain that there are no functional hospitals or fire stations in the vicinity. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
The issue extends well beyond Qutubgarh. Around 18 km away, a group of men playing cards near a DDA colony in Narela say that a metro station signifies development. “Take Dwarka, for instance. The area came up after the metro was built there,” says 42-year-old Naresh Kumar, who is taking a break from his work at a transport company. A resident of Bakner village in Narela, he says that he has to travel daily to work via e-rickshaw or bike.
“This is such an important area of Delhi but there are still so many amenities missing,” says his colleague Rajendra Khatri. The rest of them chip in, saying that none of them have invested in property in the area as the flats, most of which are still vacant, are not worth it due to the lack of amenities.
Even in places like Sector 15, Rohini, which are better connected to the metro, residents say basic amenities like water remain a primary concern. Saroj Kumar Rai, 41, an electrician, says his family often has to wait for water trucks, from which they buy water for drinking and daily use. He adds that he is worried for his children, who are currently in school. “There are no jobs around here. Most people have no option but to go to the Bawana Industrial Area, which still has some jobs on offer,” he says.
