Poor civic amenities may pose hurdle for Arvinder Singh Lovely in Delhi polls

Considered a Congress stronghold, Gandhi Nagar's crumbling infrastructure and poor civic amenities may pose some challenge to Revenue Minister Arvinder Singh in the electoral battle for the seat that has been electing him for past 15 years.

Large-scale encroachments, traffic snarls, lack of parking space and faulty drainage system are other major problems faced by the residents of the Gandhi Nagar constituency.

The wholesale cloth market, said to be Asia's biggest, has compounded problems for the residents as it has been putting pressure on existing infrastructure, besides causing heavy traffic jams on major roads.

Residents dread monsoon season as even a short spell of rain results in flooding of the lanes in colonies as well as major roads.

They complain that despite sewer lines being laid over 10 years ago, these were never made functional. Besides that, there is a growing resentment among voters over scarcity of water supply in the area. Areas like Seelampur and Welcome are the worst affected.

"The civic facilities including water supply and drainage system are in shambles. The condition in Seelampur area is pathetic. Encroachment and illegal constructions in recent past have gone up manifold in the area," said Saheb Singh of Kanti Nagar.

Traders, who are the major constituents of the area, said infrastructure growth has not been up to their expectations.

Gandhi Nagar has been with Congress since 1998 when Singh contesting for the first time defeated the BJP candidate by a huge margin and became the youngest MLA at the age of 28.