Residents, RWA open up iron gate of controversy

The residents of C4-E, Pocket-11, Janakpuri, are barred from using the park in the vicinity of their dwellings, as the gates are locked and the keys are with the RWA. Secondly, the access of residents to the by-lanes of the buildings opening onto the main road has been denied by the locked iron gates. The keys, again, for some inexplicable reasons, are with the RWA, who cite security reasons behind this decision.
While a few residents don’t buy this argument, most of the residents have taken things lying down and prefer to put up silently with the inconvenience.Between each block of 12 flats on the main road, there is a by-lane, which connects to the back lane of the rows of the flats. The access to the back lane has been hampered because of installation of iron gates about five feet high.
Though the ground floor flats have access to the back lane from door on rear side, the flats on first and second floor are totally cut off from the pocket. Says Ritu Gandhi of flat no 225, “The way to C4-E market through by-lanes was a short cut. Now I have to walk full round on the main road to reach the market.�
An old couple in the neighbourhood added, “To visit someone just opposite our house, we have to walk quite a distance till the main gate to enter our pocket. The gates should remain open during day time otherwise the by-lanes would become personal space for the ground floor residents.�
Raina Dua of flat no. 234, parks her car in the back lane as there is no parking area on the main road. She fumes, “After returning from work and carrying heavy packets of groceries and vegetables all the way round through the main gate is a daily ordeal.� She argues, “These gates hardly provide any security as children climb over the gate and jump over these.� Agrees A.M.S. Rawat of flat no. 236, “I don’t allow my son to go through the main road. I pass the bicycle of my seven year-old-son over the gate every evening. My son then follows suit.�
Locking the park gate has made some of the residents extremely agitated. “The parks in the pocket are locked most of the time and the keys remain with the president of RWA,� informs Puneet Sharma of flat no. 160. Kanti Lekhi of flat no. 222 says, “I can’t go for my regular walks in the park. Besides satellite workers and maids who used to relax and eat their lunch under the tree in the park now have no place to unwind.�
Raina Dua informs that the flats on the main road are left to the mercy of God. The watchmen never take rounds on their side of flats. She feels that these watchmen do not have any proper police verification and adds, “They do not wear any uniform and their credentials are suspect.�
N.N. Puri, the president of RWA, however, refuted all these allegations levelled against him and the RWA. He informs, “The by-lanes have been closed for the security of the pocket. There are three watchmen who are from proper agency. They take regular rounds in the pocket. The parks are locked from 11 p.m to 10 a.m. as anti-social elements come and booze sometimes in night. Beside, people bring their dogs for relieving in the park which dirties the place.�
As the tussle between the residents of pocket C4-E and RWA continues, there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight for the beleaguered residents.