By Shashi Bhushan
New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): Local parliamentarians of the trans-Yamuna area are making efforts to get East Delhi -- once the most neglected part of Delhi -- selected in the Smart City project. The parliamentarians, Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwari, are making all efforts to make the trans-Yamuna region a part of the Smart City project.
Gautam Gambhir took several initiatives to address core issues concerning his area from the environment to municipal waste management along with welfare measures like providing a one time meal for Re 1 and helping people during the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
Gambhir said, "This is our Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to fulfil the aspirations of citizens in my constituency and I am doing it." On the environment front, three giant air purifiers have been installed which are treating two lakh cubic meters of air per machine. "7,48,800 metric tonnes of legacy waste has been treated at Asia's biggest landfill at Ghazipur," he said.
For sports lovers, Gambhir, a former cricketer, has upgraded facilities at the Yamuna Sports Complex which now has a state of the art Cricket and Archery ground.
On his welfare initiative Gambhir said, "More than six lakh needy have been served nutritious meals by the two community kitchens functional at Gandhi Nagar and New Ashok Nagar at just Re 1."
During the second wave of the pandemic, Gambhir was at the forefront in serving people and distributed oxygen concentrators, cylinders and other relief material across Delhi. He also organised vaccination camps for the needy under 'Mission Vaccinate Delhi' at his office as well as in the slum clusters.
"It is my duty to let the people of Delhi know what their elected representative has done. They should know that I am in debt of each and every vote cast in my favour and will not stop until the aspirations of citizens of my constituency are fulfilled. I had presented my report card last year as well and intend to present it every year so that people know that I'm accountable to them completely."
Gambhir along with the BJP's North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari also requested the union health ministry to construct an AIIMS-like hospital in the trans-Yamuna area.
The area falling under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which is part of union minister Meenakshi Lekhi's New Delhi parliamentary constituency, is part of the Centre's Smart City Mission. The purpose of the Smart Cities Mission is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to Smart outcomes.
Tiwari focused on infrastructure development in his constituency. Some of the major projects getting sanctioned for his constituency are a National Highway passing from different parts of East and North East Delhi, construction of Shastri Park flyover to decongest traffic and development of Yamuna river waterfront apart from a Kendriya Vidyalaya and other projects.
"Construction work on the Delhi section of the six lane 155-km NH 709B between Akshardham in east Delhi and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh will start next month," Tiwari said. The highway will pass through Akshardham-Geeta Colony-Shastri Park-Khajuri Khas.
"Northeast Delhi was deprived of development for a long time. No government ever thought about the sufferings of local residents and commuters. The corridor will end traffic jams in the region, which will help in reducing air pollution in the city," Tiwari said.