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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  The change in Ajmer city
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The change in Ajmer city

The starkest feature to strike any newcomer in Ajmer is the general cleanliness of the roads

Photo: AFPPremium
Photo: AFP

If development were the only criterion for electing an MP, the Congress party’s Sachin Pilot would have won hands down from Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency. As it stands, he has a tough fight on his hands against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sanwar Lal Jat, regarded as the number two in the Vasundhra Raje cabinet.

The last time this correspondent visited Ajmer was in 2005. Ajmer then was what one would call a one-horse town—with the added drawbacks of having shady, rundown hotels and improper sanitation. Litter on the streets was commonplace and walking fast (without keeping your eyes on your next step) to reach anywhere had it negatives—of stepping inadvertently into cow pats or even human waste.

Fast forward to 2014 and Ajmer is a different town—nay even city.

It boasts of at least two malls selling branded products one would find in Delhi or Mumbai (billed as the top two cites in India). Benetton, American Swan and Levis have their own exclusive retail outlets (Prices are kept competitive to encourage sales, a retail outlet employee told this correspondent.)

Some Ajmer hotels are listed on international travel website TripAdvisor alongwith reviews.

A recently constructed flyover eases traffic flow through the city.

But the starkest feature to strike any newcomer is the general cleanliness of the roads across Ajmer—comparable, one would safely wager, to the cleanliness found in Lutyen’s Delhi.

Even at the crowded neighbourhood that houses the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti who died in the 13th century, visited by innumerable devotees every day, the cleanliness is striking. The street leading up to the main shrine door is swept, groups of young men are seen collecting litter and waste and piling them into wheelbarrows for disposal.

Many locals without reservation say Pilot is the one who has made the difference. Besides these visible changes, the young MP (at 36 he is below the 40 age mark that forms the outer limit of what is commonly determined as “youth" in India) has introduced a Central University and an airport at Kishangarh (adjoining Ajmer city), a government-recognised institute to churn out young IT professionals, computer studies in 250 rural schools and numerous drinking water projects.

But Pilot is up against a seemingly determined electorate that seems to want a change. “My wish is to see (Narendra) Modi as prime minister," said a 20-something college student. “So it will not help if I vote for Pilot, who has done good work."

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Published: 21 Apr 2014, 05:53 PM IST
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