Among the dignitaries present to grace the event were Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, Delhi BJP Chief, Manoj Tiwari, Mayor East Delhi DMC, Neema Bhagat, Special Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Deependra Pathak, Water Minister for Delhi, Rajendra Gautam, among others.
The forum is a platform that enables interaction of the government with the people so that the ground realities and issues come into light and efforts are made to make them better.
The event saw the launch of Uber’s ‘Decongest Delhi’ campaign, where a brief presentation by Shweta Rajpal Kohli regarding the issue of Delhi-traffic was highlighted.
In her presentation, she said that congestion is becoming a serious problem on the streets and roads of Delhi. “A car is capable of carrying four persons, but ideally it is seen carrying only 1.15 persons. Parking is taking up close to 14% of the urban land in Delhi”, she said. Moreover, Shweta added that economic productivity is getting affected due to road congestion. She also highlighted the fact that one shared car can reduce congestion in the city as it can eliminate the use of nearly 9-13 cars.
It briefed the people about what steps could be taken to avoid congestion and how people and authorities can contribute equally to avoid it to a considerable extent.
Speaking at the event, Manish Sisodia said, “Mass involvement is very essential for development. It is important that the designated corporations carry out their duties effectively to ensure that the basic problems are solved. The government has extended its support and fund allocation has been done, so we expect the municipal corporations to sort it out soon”.
“It is the responsibility of everyone residing in Delhi to take responsibility of the city. We should not categorise what comes under the responsibility of the MCD or PWD. Work should be done in collaboration to make Delhi better for each of us living in the city”, said Neema Bhagat, Mayor East Delhi DMC.
In his address, Manoj Tiwari said that the Centre seeks help from the ruling AAP in Delhi, to join hands to work for the betterment of the city. It is not the responsibility of a single government alone, he stated.
“As the Delhi chief of BJP, I assure full cooperation of the Centre to assist the state government and municipal corporations of Delhi in improving the current living conditions of the city, he added.
Stating that people are wrongly focussing on politics, URJA CEO, Ashutosh Dikshit, said that stress needs to be laid on policy, projects and performance of administration.
The event also witnessed a large number of people asking questions and seeking solutions to their everyday problems and concerns regarding water, traffic, congestion, pollution and waste management.
The main highlight of the programme were the following points:
- Awareness and participation of the people is equally important as the work of the officials.
- Smart city requires smart management and participation to bring about sustainable development of the city.
- Education is an investment and the basis of ultimate development of the city.
- There needs to be actual work done instead of official paper work.
The officials offered their support and promised to help them in every way they could.
The programme was divided into three technical sessions, where panellists spoke on a number of topics such as pollution, traffic, security, water management and multi-administration set-up.
Inputs, queries and concerns from the people also poured in, while officials laid down solutions to the problems and promised to solve issues.
The forum aimed at bringing out the everyday issues in the lives of the people of Delhi and sought ways to solve them. However, it is the equal responsibility of the people and the administration to deal with problems and ensure an easier way to live in and make Delhi a cleaner, greener, safer and better place to live in.
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