New Delhi, October 30: In the past few weeks Atishi, MLA Kalkaji has personally visited several localities in her constituency like Kalkaji Market, Deshbandhu Colony, Sukhdev Vihar and South Park Apartments – to meet with residents as well as traders. In these public meetings, she received grievances and concerns about the safety issues from many such localities ranging from theft, presence of antisocial elements and vandalism.

As a thoughtful response to the need raised by residents for stricter safety measures, Atishi launched the ‘Safety First for Kalkaji’ survey on Friday, October 30th, in an effort to make her constituency safer. Arvind Kejriwal Seeks Suggestions From People of Delhi on Lockdown Exit Strategy.

The ‘Safety First for Kalkaji’ survey will be a constituency wide exercise, carried out through google forms and paper questionnaires. The Kalkaji area has been divided into several zones where surveys have begun in partnership with RWAs and trader’s associations. The safety survey is an important tool to gauge the kind of problems residents are facing in their neighbourhoods.

The multiple choice and short answer questions enquire about the time of day residents feel most unsafe, where they feel most unsafe, and whom they report to when they witness crime or inappropriate behaviour. The survey also proposes four kinds of solutions –– CCTV cameras, elimination of dark spots, self defence workshops and more beat patrolling for citizens to choose from. This will help in collecting data on the category of crimes and unlawful activities residents have noticed or experienced in their neighbourhood along with recording the level of safety they presently feel.

‘Swaraj’, decentralisation of power to the people has been the Aam Aadmi Party’s prime tenet since its inception. Being the former advisor to Education Minister Manish Sisodia, Atishi has already sedimented her commitment to governance from grass-roots by building the state-wide School Management Committees, in all Delhi government schools. Now she wants to repeat that for the people of Kalkaji. Public participation and communication is key for the success of any program.

The people of Kalkaji are eagerly attending the public meetings in support of this much awaited step by their MLA, who is working tirelessly for their safety and well-being, especially in the time of COVID19.

“Democracy is not limited to election of a representative once in 5 years, but to ensure regular contact with the people and to work for their welfare. To maintain this contact, as a part of the survey, we are also communicating the 24x7 MLA Office helpline in all our outreach, so that people can just call and check the status of their grievance.” said Atishi, who plans to implement safety reforms based on feedback from this survey.