In the bustling national capital, the slum dwellers live with enduring hope, waiting for a day when clean streets, safe drinking water, proper sanitation and permanent housing will no longer feel like distant dreams.
The slum dwellers are hopeful that their issues would be adequately addressed in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Voting for the Delhi Assembly elections will take place on February 5 and the results will be declared on February 8.
“We stand in long queues for hours just to get a bucket of water, but even that water is not safe to drink,” said many slum residents, voicing their frustration at the never-ending struggle for such basic needs.
Narendra, a 60-year-old resident of Kusumpur Pahari, moved to Delhi from Bihar 40 years ago in search of a better life for his family. Yet, decades later, he is still grappling with the most fundamental necessities.
“The lack of water is our biggest challenge, whenever a water tanker arrives, there are constant fights over whose bucket gets filled first. The area is so dirty that living here feels unbearable, but we have no choice,” he said.
Narendra, who used to work as a scrap dealer, shared how the COVID pandemic brought his livelihood to a standstill. With no resources to move elsewhere, he now clings to the hope that the government will notice their plight and bring change by building proper sewers and installing water pipelines.
For Pinky Kapilo, another resident of Kusumpur Pahari, the story is all too familiar. She works as a house help and moved to the slum from Haryana when she was just five. Now, she is a mother to a three-year-old daughter and has seen only minor improvements over the years.
“Earlier, there were no washrooms at all,” she recalled.
“The government did build public toilets, but they are rarely cleaned. We constructed a small washroom in our home, but since there is no proper sewer system, we have dug an open sewer behind our house. It is unhygienic and attracts insects, but we have no choice,” Kapilo said.
A walk through Kusumpur Pahari paints a grim picture. Open sewers line the streets, roads are broken and often muddy due to leaking water tankers, and piles of garbage are scattered across the area.
In Lal Gumbad Camp, Panchsheel Park, Alka, a 70-year-old resident, lamented the constant flooding of roads.
“When the water tanker comes, the entire road becomes a pool of water. People often slip and fall. We are old now, but we want a better life for our children and grandchildren. We just hope the government provides basic facilities so we can live a little more comfortably,” said Alka.
Aman Chauhan, a rickshaw puller and another resident of Lal Gumbad Camp, shared how the small drains beside their homes overflow during the rains, flooding their houses.
“There is no proper sanitation system or sewer connections. The public washrooms are temporary and break down within a year or two. We are forced to live like this,” he said.
The struggle is similar for the residents of Sangam Vihar, where the lack of basic amenities persists.
Ashok Kumar, who lives in the Sangam Vihar slums, works odd jobs in construction and cleaning to feed his family.
“We somehow manage to eat twice a day, but how can we live in a place where there is no clean drinking water, not enough public toilets and the air smells foul due to open sewers?” he asked.
Ashok also recounted how a political leader once visited their area, marking spots for water pipelines and taps.
