NEW DELHI | After months of pressure from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP government has finally issued the work tender for Burari’s main 100-foot road. Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha said the AAP had been demanding repairs since January and had worked with officials to resolve the technical issues. With the tender now in process, he demanded that work begin without further delay and within the stipulated timeline. He said Burari residents had endured dust, mud and damaged roads throughout the monsoon and questioned why they were being made to suffer while the BJP sought to take political revenge on him. He also demanded daily cleaning of the road, as was done ahead of the minister’s visit.
MLA Sanjeev Jha said, “Today, finally, Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma came to inspect Burari’s 100-foot road. It is late, but at least he has woken up to the issue. We have been raising this matter continuously since January. It would have been better if Minister Parvesh Verma had also invited me so that I could have accompanied him and explained the technical and ground-level challenges to him in detail.”
The Burari MLA noted, “We have worked extensively over the past two months to prepare the tender document and have faced several challenges. After discussions with the officials, we decided that the road would be bituminised up to Baba Colony. After that, because the road has lower strength, RMC would be used up to Amrit Vihar, followed by bitumen work again further ahead. This file was eventually approved, and the minister is now repeating the same proposal,” he added.
He further said that if the road could be built simply because PWD Minister Parvesh Verma and MP Manoj Tiwari visited the site, they should have visited four months earlier so that Burari residents would not have had to suffer during the monsoon.
Sanjeev Jha said, “The minister is claiming that this road is being built at the request of MP Manoj Tiwari, but I can say with certainty that the MP cannot produce a single letter expressing concern about this road or a single record of a meeting with officials regarding it, because he was never concerned about the issue. He came to know about it only when the file reached the minister for final approval, and then he entered the matter politically to take credit for it. There is nothing wrong with doing politics, but he should not claim false credit.”
The AAP MLA said, “If these people had been serious, the PWD road would have been built before the monsoon. In February-March, the PWD said that the Delhi Jal Board would construct the road. After that, we held continuous joint meetings with officials to establish that the Jal Board could not build the road and that the PWD would have to do it. Four to five months were wasted in this correspondence.”
He continued, “The PWD was now constructing the road, a decision that had been taken two months ago.” Had the same decision been taken in March-April, he stated, the road would have been completed and people would not have suffered during the monsoon.
The AAP MLA said, “Although we are an opposition party, BJP leaders may often think that if the work is completed quickly, Sanjeev Jha will get political benefit from it. But they should remember that people have also voted for the BJP MP. If the MP was genuinely concerned, he should have gone to the minister and taken up the matter in March-April.”
He added, “We also called him several times and asked him to seek our advice.” Sanjeev Jha further noted that he knew that the MP was unaware of the technical details and that the AAP had informed him over the phone that the work was being delayed because of the Delhi Jal Board issue.
Sanjeev Jha said that the result of the AAP’s two months of continuous efforts was that the tender document had entered the process and said, “Minister Parvesh Verma has stated that the road will now be constructed, but the timeline he has given would mean that the road will not be completed for another six months, as the pollution-related restrictions will come into force after November.”
“According to the timeline given to me by the officials, the tender should be completed by September 20-21, the bids should be opened by October 3 and work should begin by October 10 under any circumstances, so that the main work can be completed before Diwali,” he stated.
Sanjeev Jha said he hoped the officials would stick to the timeline they had given and complete the work on a war footing. He also appealed to BJP leaders living in Burari to stop engaging in politics and put pressure on officials to ensure the work was completed.
The AAP MLA said, “When Minister Parvesh Verma visited the area, the entire road was shining and had been cleaned. We had written dozens of letters to the MCD and PWD requesting that the dust be cleared, but the officials had said that it was very difficult and could not be done. So how was the road cleaned that day?”
He said this meant that when the minister was visiting, there was no dust and the entire area was cleaned immediately so that the minister would not have to face the dust, while the public could continue to suffer. He expressed hope that Parvesh Verma would direct the MCD and PWD to clean the road every day in the same manner.
Sanjeev Jha said, “The minister spoke about constructing a pre-cast drain, but the decision to construct this drain had already been taken by former AAP government minister Satyendar Jain. Naturally, people will ask why the drain was not constructed if the decision had already been taken.”
He added that the reason is that sewer work had started at the time, and carrying out both works simultaneously would have worsened the drainage situation because of the need to keep pumping out water. “It was therefore decided that the sewer work would be completed first, after which the drain would be constructed. All these details are recorded in the file,” he said.
“The drain has now gone to tender for the third time, while no contractor participated in the tender process on the previous two occasions. The drain was sanctioned a long time ago. If the road work is to be carried out, there should be no further delay and the tender should have been issued today,” he said.
He continued, “I do not know why it has not happened. I appeal to the minister to look into this. The tender process is a one-hour task and, if necessary, a short-term tender can also be issued within eight days, depending on the requirement. That would allow the work to begin within 12-15 days. Why is this work being deliberately delayed?”
The leader emphasised that the biggest misfortune for this area is BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, who was ineffective yesterday and remains ineffective today, and the people are bearing the consequences. “Instead of indulging in politics and trying to take credit for the work, they should focus on resolving the people’s problems. I stand shoulder to shoulder with PWD Minister Parvesh Verma on this issue, but there should be no dirty politics over it,” he asserted.
Sanjeev Jha also appealed to BJP councillors and other leaders, saying that they too travelled on the road. He questioned why BJP leaders were harming the people of Burari while trying to take revenge on Sanjeev Jha. “If the BJP minister and MP did not understand the issue, they can call me on Sunday and I will explain how the work can be started within 12-15 days,” he said.
Sanjeev Jha urged them not to delay the work, and said, “Any delay will mean that the road might not be completed until after January-February, while the road remains a major daily challenge for the people of Burari.” He expressed hope that they would focus on completing the work rather than engaging in politics and that the work would proceed according to the timeline previously given.
