In Delhi but not really part of Delhi, say Bawana voters
In most of the areas, people demanded better infrastructure for schools and more hospitals and educational institutes.
On Wednesday, a group of men sat huddled together, engaged in idle banter before the start of the day’s work in Bawana industrial area.
A little distance away from the group, Vikas Yadav, 30, sat listening to Bhojpuri songs on his mobile phone.
Yadav — who earns around Rs 8,000 a month working in a factory that produces spare parts for table fans — came to Delhi four years ago from his village in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh,
“Life here is comparatively better. However, we tend to get exploited sometimes. Today is election day but we were not given a holiday to go cast our votes,” he said.
Luv Kush, another worker sitting nearby, added, “What is the point of voting anyway. We have no say in the politics of Bawana. More than 80% of the workers here do not even have a voter identity card.”
Yadav and Luv Kush were just two of the many workers of Bawana who told Hindustan Times on Wednesday that there problems were never taken up as they were not voters of the area.
“The workers are forced to retire at the age of 40. Most of them are not even given health benefits and their salary is delayed. But politicians never come to our rescue,” he said.
If people in Bawana industrial area are aggrieved for not getting a vote, people living in nearby JJ Colony say they are taken for granted as well and just treated as a vote bank.
People in Bawana village, Jat Khore, Bajitpur and Qutabgarh say that their area has been neglected by successive government.
“People from other states come to Delhi and make it big, but our own children are not getting enough employment opportunities as we are not well connected to the rest of the city. There are just a handful of buses that ply in our area. The government has planned a Metro, but we don’t know when it will come,” said Vijender Kumar, a resident of Bawana village.
In most of the areas, people demanded better infrastructure for schools and more hospitals and educational institutes.
“The teachers do not come on time. There is just one Delhi University college in the area. If this is Delhi then why is step motherly treatment being dealt out to this area,” said Bhavya Ganesh, a resident of Harewali.
“Areas like Noida and Gurgaon have been benefited more than us from being in Delhi’s vicinity,” she added.