A little over a year of being a Member of Parliament, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir decided to present a ‘report card’ to the people of East Delhi – the Lok Sabha constituency he represents.
Gambhir cited the installation of a giant first-of-its-kind 20-feet smog tower to get the height of Asia’s biggest landfill site at Ghazipur down by 40 feet as one of his achievements in his first year as lawmaker.
He recounted his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the election, when he told Gambhir, “Work so hard that you don’t have to depend on my name”. He said he has worked on that advice, since.
Insisting that it is important that his constituents know what he is doing, Gambhir cited an example of donating his salary for the renovation and reconstruction of several public places, something which is not covered under the MPLAD funds, in his report card.
“Crematoriums, parks & public restrooms have been renovated from his salary donations,” said a statement issued by his office.
Gambhir said he is exploring a number of options at the constituency level including large-scale sprinklers and air purifiers to deal with the rising menace of pollution in Delhi, particularly in his constituency.
In his report card, Gambhir cited his work during the lockdown. “A total of 5 Lakh food packets, 2 lakh baby food packets, 40 thousand masks and face shields, 5 thousand PPE kits and 3 thousand bedding kits were delivered. In addition 12 hand wash stations were also installed at various locations of East Delhi,” he claimed.
In the last Lok Sabha election, Gambhir had fought on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket and secured more than 50% vote share.
Gambhir, who had received 6.96 lakh votes, had defeated Congress’s Arvinder Singh Lovely, who polled 3.04 lakh votes and AAP’s Atishi who had received 2.19 lakh votes.
— IANS
