What can netas do for our colonies?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: Sitting in the plush living room of a Safdarjung Enclave residence, south Delhi BJP candidate V K Malhotra had barely finished saying "please vote for me" when he was barraged by a dhobi list that included errors in electricity bills, lack of water supply and postponement of the new system of property tax.<br /><br />Of the 100 residents gathered there sipping tea and delicate snacks, 99 were were more concerned about the bijli-sadak-pani in their area. Issues like Gujarat riots, Ayodhya Mandir and relations with Pakistan rarely come up in the conversation. <br /><br />Mugshots of the Gandhi clan — Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul — might be smiling from the party posters stuck on the walls of Chandni Chowk houses, but the issues are predictably local. As Kapil Sibal goes from house to house asking for votes, people just tell him the usual civic problems. A squall before his padyatra ensures that the residents also complain about waterlogging. <br /><br />In Karol Bagh too, Congress candidate Krishna Tirath might be standing for a national election but must talk about the multi-storeyed parking spaces she will create to decongest the area if she is elected. No matter what the final outcome of the poll, in a tussle between local versus national issues, the former is a clear winner in Delhi. <br /><br />"The reason: issues like billing and property tax are a priority because they have an immediate impact on people. We don''t have the ear of politicians any time except before elections," L K Sharma, a Malviya Nagar resident said.<br /><br />The issues that have caught candidates in awkward situations are: Billing Errors, Fast Meters The issue of fast meters has rapidly spiralled out of control leaving residents shocked over their inflated electricity bills. In several areas, residents have refused to pay bills and even refused to vote for the candidate if their demands are not met.<br /><br />In Chandni Chowk, for instance, for Virani parivar bahu it is more about how she looks off screen and her role in the serials and not Babri Masjid and India shining. Though Smriti Iraani relies heavily on Atal Behari Vajpayee''s neetis and feel good, women hug her and tell her how difficult it is for them to catch her serials because of power cuts.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />"Earlier we were quiet about the billing because at least the power supply was better than before privatisation but in the past one month there have been so many power cuts," Pankaj Agarwal added.<br /><br />Water Woes In Outer Delhi, the villages of Najafgarh people wait for hours for water to trickle. No wonder, villagers of Daurala, Rawta, Galibpur, Sarangpur, JhulJhuli, and Ghummanhera react sharply to the politicians'' promises of prosperity. "All that is fine but how can we live without water," said an Jhuljhuli villager.<br /><br />Indeed, Sonia and Vajpayee take a back seat even as the two main contenders Congress'' Sajjan Kumar and BJP''s Sahib Singh Verma barely mention them. "As the Union labour minister, did Sahib Singh ensure a single job for the rural youth?" Sajjan Kumar asks voters. Sahib Singh, on his part, counters by tom-toming the social security scheme that he started.<br /><br />In south and some areas of New Delhi constituency that have been parched, the promises of setting up Sonia Vihar treatment plant and an additional 140 million gallons of water now sounds fake. Property Tax Time after time as candidates go to the people to talk of national achievements they come back with brickbats.<br /><br />"People are more concerned about getting their house tax reduced. They do not understand that these are local issues," Arya says. "The city government failed to provide them the facilities, but now we will take them up," she adds.<br /><br />Residents claimed that the underhanded way in which the Delhi government has tried to bring about the new system of property tax will backfire on them.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>