Okhla

Okhla is an urban neighbourhood located near the Okhla barrage in the South East Delhi district of Delhi near the border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Okhla has lent its name to the nearby planned township of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority or NOIDA. Okhla is also an assembly constituency.

About
Okhla is one of the oldest inhabited areas in Delhi near the bank of Yamuna River. This can be judged from the making of Okhla canal (Agra Canal) by the British in 1874, presently known as Okhla Head.

History
The Okhla barrage is a barrage that was developed by the British. It is also the starting point of the Agra Canal built in 1874. Today it is also the location of the Okhla Bird Sanctuary, and further down the canal towards Agra, the Keetham Lake National Bird Sanctuary.

The present campus of Jamia Millia Islamia, a central university was established here in 1925. The Okhla Mandi is an important wholesale market in Delhi. Several services are nearby, including the NSIC, IIIT Delhi, Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Meera Bai Institute of Technology, Kalkaji Temple, Lotus Temple, Okhla Vihar, Okhla railway station, and the Okhla Water Works.

Okhla Industrial Estate
Okhla Industrial Estate, an industrial domain of New Delhi in South Delhi was established by National Small Industries Corporation and was one of the 12 such estates being developed across India to encourage small industries. Construction work at the site began in 1952 and it was finally inaugurated in 1958, and in time became synonymous to growth of small scale industries in region. Today it is divided in three phases.

Extension of Okhla
Apart from the Industrial Estate, Okhla also has an extension of several residential areas which includes Zakir Nagar, Batla House, Jogabai Extension, Abul Fazal Enclave, Okhla Head, Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh, Okhla Vihar, Johri Farm, Noor Nagar, Gaffar Manzil, Haji Colony, etc. This includes the colonies situated on the bank of the river Yamuna.

Phases
Okhla Industrial Estate Phase I and Phase II is one of the 28 industrial areas of Delhi, as per the Master Plan of 2001. Revenue earners from this base include ready-made garment exporters and leather garment exporters, besides other segments of the industry such as pharmaceutical manufacturing units, plastic and packaging industries, printing presses, machinery manufacturers, call centers, MNCs Office, Bank, and others.

Okhla Industrial Estate Phase III spreads over 110 acre and is a modest industrial foundation laid out by the British architect Mr. Walter George, who was famous for the planning and construction of Parliament House, North, and South Blocks.

MNCs, Call centers, BPO, Showrooms, and Media Groups are actively operational in the area.

Overview
The whole industrial area was named after the main Okhla Village, in South Delhi. Nearby areas have now extensively grown into neighbourhoods like Jogabai extension, Batla House, Okhla Vihar, Zakir Nagar, Jamia Nagar, Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Colony, and Kalindi Kunj.

The Okhla neighbourhood has a high density of Muslim population, and show high linguistic literacy rate. It is a state assembly constituency, part of the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

Neighbourhoods
East of Kailash, New Friends Colony, Nehru Place, Kalkaji, Abul Fazal Enclave, Sukhdev Vihar, Greater Kailash, Govindpuri, Sriniwaspuri, Tuglaqabad, Sarita Vihar, Jasola, Shaheen Bagh, Jaitpur, Madanpur, Badarpur, Zakir Nagar, Okhla Vihar, Ghaffar Manzil Colony, Haji colony, Ishwar Nagar and Harkesh Nagar are the surrounding areas.

Wildlife sanctuaries
Okhla Bird Sanctuary is a nearby Bird Park and Wildlife Sanctuary located in Noida, where during the month of September thousands of migratory birds including shovellers, pintail, common teal, gadwall, and blue-winged teal visit the area every year.

Hospitals
There are many hospitals in the area, including Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Al-Shifa, Cribbs, Holy Family Hospital, Fortis Escorts, and other small hospitals and clinics.

Hygiene
Civic hygiene has been a concern in Okhla and people struggle with overflowing garbage. The overused landfills in the area have been termed as dark spots. New Indian Express, in a July 2021 report stated, "The 22km stretch of Yamuna from Wazirabad to Okhla in Delhi, which is less than two per cent of the river length, accounts for about 80 per cent of the pollution in the river."

Connectivity
Okhla is well connected via roadways and railways and is not too far away from the IGI Airport. Business districts such as Nehru Place, Connaught Place and Lajpat Nagar are considerably close resulting in good access to public services.

Okhla is also connected to the Delhi Metro Magenta Line Network - Jasola Vihar-Shaheen Bagh, Okhla Vihar, Jamia Millia Islamia and Sukhdev Vihar.

Delhi Transport Corporation buses via various Bus stops and terminus are operating from Okhla.