Slum-dwellers vote in hope of better future

New Delhi: Slum voters turned up at polling stations in hope of getting improved civic amenities. Slum dwellers and residents of resettlement colonies have been loyal voters of the Congress, but this changed with the Aam Aadmi Party’s entry in Delhi politics.

Voting on Sunday gradually picked up pace at polling stations in slum pockets of Trilokpuri, Kalyan Puri, Kotla Village and Khichripur Village in East Delhi.

As per a rough estimate, 300 of the 800 slum clusters in the national capital are located in East and Northeast Delhi.

Ajay Tomar, a resident of Khichripur, said, “Last year, each house had one or more chikungunya patient. Open drains in the area act as breeding spots for mosquitoes. Drains in the area only cleaned once in two-three weeks,” Mr Tomar said.

Manoj of Kalyanpuri’s Indira Camp said the voters will not be lured by freebies announced by the parties. According to him, open defecation in the area is a huge problem. Despite the presence of a makeshift toilet in the area, people prefer to go to the nearby drain to relieve themselves.

Twenty-two per cent of slums do not have toilet facilities and 30 per cent of the people were using sceptic tank and flush, as per the Economic Survey of Delhi 2016-17.

Nine candidates are in fray from ward number 8 (Kalyan Puri). The ward is reserved for SC candidates. The key contenders are from BJP, AAP, Congress and BSP. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had swept away the Congress’ traditional vote-base of JJ clusters, almost entirely, in the assembly polls in 2013 and then 2015.

“We gave chance to AAP in two consecutive assembly polls, but it has done almost nothing for us. I hope whoever gets elected will work for improve the sanitation standards in the area,” Trilokpuri resident Sunil Gautam said.

East Delhi Municipal Corporation, which is smallest in terms of number of councillors, is the poorest of the three civic bodies in the city. The BJP-led corporation is running a budgetary deficit of over Rs 2,000 crore and has been unable to pay regular salaries to its sanitation workers, forcing them to go on repeated strikes.