Living in a hellhole

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Jamia Nagar in Okhla is a fastest growing residential hub in South Delhi. It is a melting pot of different cultures with people of different states coming to settle in this locality. According to rough estimates some five lakh residents live in this small area that still lacks basic civic amenities like regular water supply, waste management, proper sewage and broken roads. Regular traffic snarl and roadside encroachment are the new worry.

Despite being in Delhi, the area is in chaos with open nallahs, encroachment and piled-up stinking garbage on roadsides and puddles everywhere. The situation in monsoon is incredible. Even stepping out of house is an arduous task with many streets inundated with water and in some places carcass lying on roads.

Marooned
Batla House resident Gufran Rumi said: “Come monsoon, residents are marooned. They cannot step outside of their houses. There are many streets where water logging is regular thing. In many places there is so much of water that residents use temporary bridge of bricks or wood to pass through.

“Ironically, there is no permanent solution. As I was brought up in the area I have seen things deteriorate over the years. Leaders make tall claims but the fact is little work has been done. Recently posters had appeared in the area claiming that the MLA spent crores on plastic roads. One rainy season and the roads have gone to the wind.”

Fed up with the prevailing situation many residents want to launch an online and offline awareness campaign on these issues.

Water, hospital & electricity
Drinking water too is a big issue for Jamia Nagar residents. Some wait for Delhi Jal Board supplies and the rest buy drinking water. Overnight water plants have mushroomed in the locality and are doing brisk business. Residents are the biggest sufferer. Ground water is not drinkable and hence many people, who can afford get water purifier installed.

Worst of all there is only one government hospital for such a huge population.

The power situation is no better in summer. Abul Fazal Enclave resident Shobha said during summer (peak months) power supply really gets bad. “Residents are forced to live without power for long hours. If you have inverter or generator backup then life is fine otherwise be ready to sweat for long hours,” she said.

Infrastructure
The unexpected surge in population has led to crumbling infrastructure. Nonstop construction works too have added to residents’ woes. With money in hand, some residents are free to flout laws like getting boring, dumping building materials in the middle of the road and digging roads for other work.

Javed Iqbal Khan said ten years ago the locality was not like this. “There were lot of empty spaces and greenery in the area. But once people started coming from far away places things started changing. Builders swooped down on the locality and started giving good money to landowners. And slowly high-rise buildings started coming up in places of one-floor house. The population explosion led to many problems.”

Crime
Despite untrammeled construction and population explosion crime rates, like murder, rape and loot, compared to other localities are low. But cases of snatching, theft, eve teasing and lifting of two-wheelers have gone up of late, according to an activist.

Another resident Shahzad Khan said: “The colony was never planned in a proper way. Everything was haphazard. Builders converted a house into a four-storey flat sold it and moved away. Initially, flats were cheap so many people bought houses in the area for safety purpose. With central university Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) near by it attracted people from other places.

Address the issue
“Whoever comes to Delhi, wants to settle down in Jamia Nagar. They feel safe and are ready to sacrifice their comforts that they could easily get for the same money in Noida or any other developing area.”

Above all there are no quality schools in the locality.

Residents, leaders and authorities have to think seriously to address these issues otherwise the locality will deteriorate further, claimed Khan.