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Locals also complained of broken roads, traffic nuisance, and a general lack of sanitation in the area
Garbage is strewn across Kalicharan Camp and Gandhi Camp in Kalkaji. (Nivedita Singh/News18)
Kalicharan Camp and Gandhi Camp in Kalkaji are just 10 kilometres away from India Gate, which receives special attention the year around to keep it spotless. For those living in these colonies, pothole-free roads, blooming flower beds and streets without garbage may as well be scenes from a different city altogether.
On a visit to the Kalkaji assembly seat, the constituency that elected outgoing chief minister Atishi in 2020, News18 went to these two camps to understand the situation on ground. For the 2025 elections, Atishi is again contesting from the seat, aiming for a second term.
In Gandhi camp, not only the streets but the premises of government buildings, including the Basti Vikas Kendra of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), were strewn with garbage. The premises of a public toilet in the camp were also filled with garbage.
The locals claimed that garbage was never picked up from the inner lanes. Also, the drains are open in most parts of these camps, which puts lives at risk.
“The garbage is picked up from the main road once in a while. But there is no arrangement for the inner lanes,” said Saira Alam.
Her elderly neighbour, Fatima, said the drains were not covered in the locality, posing a risk for children playing outside.
“We don’t have space in our homes. Whatever open space is available is turned into a dumping zone that is never cleared. The drains are open and our children have to play around it. Don’t we deserve a better life?” she asked.
For Imran, another local, the locality is in a bad shape because people are not trying to improve.
“No one is dumping the garbage here other than the locals. It is not that this is coming from someone from the outside. The locals are not doing anything to ensure that the roads and spaces around it are clean and garbage-free,” he said.
The situation was no better in Kalicharan camp, with open drains and garbage on roads. In between the two camps is the Okhla fruit and vegetable market and the Okhla Railway station in Sriniwaspuri. The roads around these colonies were broken and roadside spaces were filled with garbage.
These two colonies, however, do not paint the entire picture of Kalkaji as the seat also covers some of the poshest areas of Delhi, including East of Kailash, Maharani Bagh, New Friends Colony, and Kalkaji.
On the other side of Captain Gaur Marg is Sant Nagar in East of Kailash. The houses around the Raja Dhirsain Marg in Sant Nagar belong to middle and upper-middle class families. Even though sanitation is not a major issue in the lanes, it’s not rare to spot garbage on roadsides, empty plots and dividers.
For the people of this area, traffic is a bigger nuisance. In the lanes, there is hardly any space to move a car as both sides are encroached with unauthorised parking.
“Last year, my father fell and had to be taken to a hospital. There was no way an ambulance could come till our house. We had to carry him till the main road. These are all houses of rich people with big cars but everyone parks their car on the road, leaving hardly any space,” said 40-year-old Surya Pandey.
The roads in major parts of Kalkaji face issues of encroachment and illegal parking.
Can Atishi Repeat 2020?
Kalkaji assembly, a part of South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, falls under the South East district and has 1.94 lakh voters — 1.06 lakh men and 87,617 women.
In 2015, AAP’s Avtar Singh won from the seat and was replaced by Atishi in 2020, giving a marginal increase in the party’s vote share.
Between 1998 and 2008, Congress leader Subhash Chopra had bagged the seat. However, the party could not manage to win again after that.
This time, the party has trusted Alka Lamba from the seat. Lamba, who was an AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk in 2015, said people were forced to live without basic amenities and were troubled by both AAP and BJP.
“On February 5, voters from all the classes in Kalkaji will vote for the Congress… This time, the voters will not fall for the lies of AAP and BJP but on the guarantees of Congress,” Lamba said, adding that people are tired of broken roads and overflowing sewage in the constituency and that people have realised voting for Congress is the way forward.
BJP’s two-time MP from South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri is contesting against the two women. He said the AAP has turned Kalkaji assembly into a dirty place.
“The people of Kalkaji assembly constituency are fed up with corruption, false promises and bad governance. They are now ready for change… With everyone’s cooperation and support, a double engine BJP government is being formed in Delhi on February 8,” he said.
Atishi said people should vote for AAP as voting from Congress or BJP would mean wasting votes.
“There are two other candidates in the fray. The Congress candidate has no relevance in Delhi, and voting for them is equivalent to wasting your vote. As for the BJP candidate, he is not worthy of votes. Whenever he speaks, he abuses,” she said.
In 2020, Atishi secured 55,897 votes – 52.28 per cent of the total. The last time the BJP won from Kalkaji was in 1993 when Purnima Sethi was elected as an MLA.
A total of 13 candidates are contesting from the seat, including Bahujan Samaj Party’s Pritam Singh and four independent candidates.
The fate of these candidates will be sealed by the voters in Kalkaji on February 5 and the results will be out on February 8.
