NEW DELHI: With the elections concluded and Delhi’s representatives elected to the 18th Lok Sabha, the fate of the once mammoth Outer Delhi constituency comes into question. Established in 1952 and abolished in 2008 due to its sheer size, Outer Delhi had nearly 33 lakh voters in 2004. Initially, it elected two MP’s—one from the SC category and one from the general category.The first MPs were C. Krishnan Nair, a freedom fighter from Kerala, and Naval Prabhakar.
Historically, the constituency was often represented by Delhi natives, from Ch. Brahm Prakash Yadav, Delhi’s first Chief Minister, to Ch Bharat Singh, who won by a record margin in 1984. Sajjan Kumar, later convicted in the Sikh riots, was the last MP, defeating former CM Sahib Singh Verma. In the time between, Delhi had seen significant development.
After the 2008 delimitation, Outer Delhi was divided into North West Delhi, West Delhi, and South Delhi constituencies, collectively representing about 72 lakh voters in today’s date as per ECI. The constituencies have elected Yogender Chandolia, Kamaljeet Sherawat and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri as their representatives respectively.
Problems faced by villages
Paras Tyagi, who runs an organisation named Centre for youth culture and environment (CYCLE) for the betterment of Delhi’s villages, highlights major issues in the constituency such as the land pooling policy and ownership problems.
He said, “the land pooling policy of Delhi is a scam. I have read the minutes of meeting of DDA meeting from 1993 where the officials had discussed how the earlier policy of large scale land acquisition had failed and now they are contemplating this new model for future urbanisation. In the last three decades, we have seen how the number of unauthorised colonies has increased from 900 to almost 1800. If departments were serious they would not have let the urbanisable area fall prey to illegal built ups on agricultural land of villages. A mere look at the before and after satellite images can show us the evidence in this matter that is going on continuously”.
Speaking on ownership problems he said, “The central government’s 2019 ownership scheme for unauthorised colonies was not extended to native Delhi villagers, unlike the SVAMITVA scheme, which provides property rights nationwide. This policy could benefit all 357 Delhi villages, yet it remains unimplemented locally”.
Activism and development efforts
Kartar Singh, a PIL and social activist from Najafgarh, recalls moving to Najafgarh in the 1990s, when unauthorised colonies were starting to pop up across the constituency. Remembering the conditions of UAC’s he said it was like living in hell.
Talking about one of his success stories, he says, “In 1989 the Pradhan of Roshanpura village along with other villagers had donated land for a Delhi university campus to be built for the betterment of the area. The Pradhan then came to me due to inaction, after which i had filed a PIL in Delhi high court in 2017 regarding the university land, there were some problems due to the approach road not being wide enough which has now been cleared due to the construction of UER-2, we recently were successful, and the construction of it and all the formalities will be declared soon.
However I would like to ask who gave DDA the right to use the gram sabha lands as per their needs? It is the villagers choice. There are many other projects that are kept away from these villages which could develop the area even more, be it education, connectivity, hospitals, etc. Don’t lose hope is what i would like to say to the natives of Delhi, there are ways to get things done, I won’t stop fighting for the development of our area.”
A constituency of tradition and culture
Tarif Singh, former MP from Outer Delhi recalls the constituency as one of Asia’s largest constituencies by voter count, preserving Delhi’s traditions and culture.
He further adds, “ The constituency elected and kept forward the natives’ concern. I remember how we used to campaign, sometimes we didn’t get to go home due to the enormous size of the constituency, it covered 2/3rd of Delhi. We used to be given donations by being weighed on a scale and the same amount of coins were given to us in every village, he fondly remembered.
Recently, the Central government allocated Rs800 crore for developing Delhi villages, many of which are in the former Outer Delhi constituency. However, it remains to be seen if the persistent issues faced by these villages will finally be addressed or not.
Historically, the constituency was often represented by Delhi natives, from Ch. Brahm Prakash Yadav, Delhi’s first Chief Minister, to Ch Bharat Singh, who won by a record margin in 1984. Sajjan Kumar, later convicted in the Sikh riots, was the last MP, defeating former CM Sahib Singh Verma. In the time between, Delhi had seen significant development.
After the 2008 delimitation, Outer Delhi was divided into North West Delhi, West Delhi, and South Delhi constituencies, collectively representing about 72 lakh voters in today’s date as per ECI. The constituencies have elected Yogender Chandolia, Kamaljeet Sherawat and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri as their representatives respectively.
Problems faced by villages
Paras Tyagi, who runs an organisation named Centre for youth culture and environment (CYCLE) for the betterment of Delhi’s villages, highlights major issues in the constituency such as the land pooling policy and ownership problems.
He said, “the land pooling policy of Delhi is a scam. I have read the minutes of meeting of DDA meeting from 1993 where the officials had discussed how the earlier policy of large scale land acquisition had failed and now they are contemplating this new model for future urbanisation. In the last three decades, we have seen how the number of unauthorised colonies has increased from 900 to almost 1800. If departments were serious they would not have let the urbanisable area fall prey to illegal built ups on agricultural land of villages. A mere look at the before and after satellite images can show us the evidence in this matter that is going on continuously”.
Speaking on ownership problems he said, “The central government’s 2019 ownership scheme for unauthorised colonies was not extended to native Delhi villagers, unlike the SVAMITVA scheme, which provides property rights nationwide. This policy could benefit all 357 Delhi villages, yet it remains unimplemented locally”.
Activism and development efforts
Kartar Singh, a PIL and social activist from Najafgarh, recalls moving to Najafgarh in the 1990s, when unauthorised colonies were starting to pop up across the constituency. Remembering the conditions of UAC’s he said it was like living in hell.
Talking about one of his success stories, he says, “In 1989 the Pradhan of Roshanpura village along with other villagers had donated land for a Delhi university campus to be built for the betterment of the area. The Pradhan then came to me due to inaction, after which i had filed a PIL in Delhi high court in 2017 regarding the university land, there were some problems due to the approach road not being wide enough which has now been cleared due to the construction of UER-2, we recently were successful, and the construction of it and all the formalities will be declared soon.
However I would like to ask who gave DDA the right to use the gram sabha lands as per their needs? It is the villagers choice. There are many other projects that are kept away from these villages which could develop the area even more, be it education, connectivity, hospitals, etc. Don’t lose hope is what i would like to say to the natives of Delhi, there are ways to get things done, I won’t stop fighting for the development of our area.”
A constituency of tradition and culture
Tarif Singh, former MP from Outer Delhi recalls the constituency as one of Asia’s largest constituencies by voter count, preserving Delhi’s traditions and culture.
He further adds, “ The constituency elected and kept forward the natives’ concern. I remember how we used to campaign, sometimes we didn’t get to go home due to the enormous size of the constituency, it covered 2/3rd of Delhi. We used to be given donations by being weighed on a scale and the same amount of coins were given to us in every village, he fondly remembered.
Recently, the Central government allocated Rs800 crore for developing Delhi villages, many of which are in the former Outer Delhi constituency. However, it remains to be seen if the persistent issues faced by these villages will finally be addressed or not.