A bone of contention

Residents just dread the idea of any function at their community hall as it becomes a cause of continuous disturbance.

Every celebration at the community hall has become a nightmare for the residents of Avantika, Rohini Sector 2 as the entrance is facing the residential area.
Parking problem, noise, traffic chaos and others make residents suffer. The residents of the area, which comes under MCD ward Rohini South, have been asking the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to find a solution but to no avail.
This community hall, which was built by the MCD in 2000, is the only hall in Rohini Sector 2. Mangol Puri, Avantika and Sector 1 are close to it. Thus, it is occupied most of the time. Residents of around 700 flats and houses are troubled. There is an entrance gate on the other side as well but it opens in the nearby DDA vacant land making it redundant. Rajesh Malhotra, a resident said, "As proper parking facility is not available at this hall, visitors to this hall park in our area leading to traffic chaos. Sometimes, we are also not able to park our own vehicles in our area. The main entrance of the hall should be from other side and not from the residential area."
It has a capacity of about 300-350 people. Nirmala Devi, another resident said, "We can't even stand outside our houses as most of the time the area is full of chaos. The drainage pipe of the community hall is also damaged due to which dirty water flows onto the road making the area dirty."
Harish Sehgal, president, Rohini Sector 2 RWA said, "The construction of the gate is illegal. Main door is made on the 9-meter-wide service lane. Arguments have become common between residents and visitors during celebrations at this hall."
Narayan Dutt Lakhera, general secretary, RWA said, "After lodging many complaints, last year the entrance of the hall near the residential area was closed for some time. But soon, it was reopened. The entrance of this hall should be from other side near main road."
Ward No. 45 Rohini councillor Anish Kumar Jain said, "This community hall was made during ex-councillor Raj Puri Gupta's tenure. I don't know why the entrance of the hall is towards the residents' houses. Several complaints have been made and I personally wrote many letters to the DDA. But no action has been taken in this matter. I also demanded the vacant land of DDA which is just next to the hall to ease the problem of parking. But DDA refused to give the land. As per I know, DDA will auction the land as the land is located on the main road."
AK Verma, executive engineer, DDA (Rohini zone) said, "If residents of Avantika, Sector 2 want to use the DDA land, they should write a letter to the right person i.e. director, commercial state, Vikas Sadan for the allotment of the land. We ourselves want that all the vacant lands should get utilised for the benefit of the people."
Ram Prakash, chief engineer, MCD, who retired two months back but was looking after the area for two years said, "This thing didn't came into my knowledge. Residents and councillor also didn't tell me about this problem. If the main entrance is the problem, then residents should write a letter to the PWD Minister Rajkumar Chauhan."
KP Singh, chief engineer, MCD said, "I don't have knowledge about this. I will look into the matter and will do the needful."

--Pooja Tiwari