Social activist-turned-politician Sandeep Dikshit is one of the more accessible and friendlier MPs. He represents East Delhi constituency for the second consecutive time. It helps that his mother Sheila Dikshit is chief minister of Delhi for the third time in a row. Both of them have made development their mantra and have focussed their energies on improving the state's infrastructure. The younger Dikshit makes it a point to light up dark alleys and provide roads in the interior areas to improve living condition of his constituents. It is in this endeavour that he alloted a significant amount of his MPLAD fund to light up a street in Mayur Vihar, Phase-I in 2008.

Project: Replacing non-functional street lights on a stretch of road connecting Rosewood Apartments to Samachar Apartments.

Objective: To lit up the stretch which had became quite unsafe for both the local residents to venture out at night and unsafe for vehicular traffic.

Date of commencement: April 9, 2008

Deadline: October 8, 2008

Date of completion: October 8, 2008

Estimated cost: Rs 17,36,012

Cost incurred: Rs 17,36,012

Executing agency: BSES

Governance Now decided to make an on-the-spot inspection of the project. Principal Correspondent Danish Raza hit the street on a cold winter night a few days ago and found the area lit up brightly with 15 neon lights which were installed alongside the old, and now abandoned, lamp posts. The local residents no longer take a detour to avoid this stretch. They are happy that their representative in Parliament responded to their predicament while the civic body ignored their pleas for several months. Mahavir Singh Chaddha, who used this road on his way to home everyday and who approached Sandeep Dikshit for help, is pleased with the development. He said: “There were a few minor accidents on this stretch because there was no light. Now, things are fine.” Ramvir Singh, a resident of Chilla village, who is also a frequent user of the road, is glad that the neon lights brightened up the road better than the old ones.

Danish gives a big thumbs-up to the project.

Your Turn: Sandeep Dikshit claims to have carried out several other projects to improve the civic condition in East Delhi. Have these projects really made a difference? Are these projects useful as he claims? Here we list out some of the important ones for you to check out and let us know if his claims are right. Become our Public Reporter and send us your views, photographs and if you like, video clipings, to make your point.

Some of the major projects taken up by Sandeep Dikshit under the MPLAD Scheme:

•    Development of Netajiwali Gali in C Block, Bhajanpura, Shadara (North Zone)
•    Development of Gali No. 13 at Abdul Hameed Marg, B Block, Subhash Vihar
•    Lighting arrangement at DDA market, Pocket-E, Mayur Vihar, Phase-II
•    Provision of lights in municipal park, Pandav Nagar
•    Development of Harshvardhan Street in B Block, North Ghonda
•    Development of front and back lanes in B-5 Block, Yamuna Vihar