Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
The door of Madhuri Devi’s house, who has been living in Delhi’s Gauri Shankar enclave for the last 20 years, has gone down five feet below the level of road. She’s not the only one, almost all the residents of the enclave were forced to build stairs to bridge the gap of 2-5 feet after the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) decided to build roads along with drains in 2015, twenty-five years after the colony came into existence in 1990.
Struggle for Basic Amenities
Puranmal Kaushik, who runs a grocery store in the area, explained how so many houses turned into caves with stairs leading down:
When the roads and drains were built in 2015, we had to construct stairs to come at the same level, and to prevent water from coming into our homes.Puranmal Kaushik, Resident, Gauri Shankar enclave
In 2012, it was Sheila Dikshit’s government that had allocated a budget of Rs 2 crore and 39 lakhs for building roads in Prem Nagar-3 comprising 60 colonies including Gauri Shankar enclave.
People living in this colony claim that water supply is irregular, forcing them to rely on private tankers. For the first time since the Kejriwal-led government came to power, it was in September last year that the MCD officials conducted a survey for ascertaining the exact width of pipe that should replace the current one supplying water to households.
Pointing towards empty cans and containers of different shapes and sizes in her household, Gayatri, whose husband irons clothes for a living, said:
Water supply is erratic and whenever it comes, it’s dirty water what we get; it’s difficult to go to the private tanker daily.
Empty plots of land have become dumpyards for garbage in Gauri Shankar enclave.
Photo: Akanksha Kumar
Several gullies (semi-pucca roads) in this colony are laden with mounds of garbage, posing severe health risk for the residents.
There is no system in place for garbage disposal, so we throw the waste at some distance from our homes. MCD sweepers don’t turn up many times in a month.Madhuri Devi, resident, Gauri Shankar enclave
Frustration and anger are quite evident among the residents as they struggle to go about their lives in a not-so-normal habitat.
No one listens to our complaints. The politicians come only around elections asking for votes and then they forget about us.Madhuri Devi, Resident, Gauri Shankar enclave
Who’s to be Blamed for the Unplanned Development?
Gauri Shankar enclave in west Delhi is among the city’s 1,700 unauthorised colonies which are lagging behind when it comes to basic amenities. According to a research paper by the Centre for Policy Research (dated April 2014), “there is no clear understanding of how many people live in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies; estimates vary wildly.”
Talking about the flawed policy and mismanagement on part of the municipal corporation, Dunu Roy, activist and director of Delhi-based NGO, Hazards Centre, said:
Failure on part of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) can be gauged from the fact that it was supposed to build 25 lakh houses as per the Master Plan 2021, however only 2 lakh houses have been built so far.
Politics Over Unauthorised Colonies
Ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015, the manifesto of the Aam Aadmi Party titled, ’70-point action plan’, had promised:
Within one year of our government formation, these unauthorised colonies will be regularised and residents will be given ownership rights.AAP Manifesto (2015)
In January this year, after the Election Commission recommended that 20 AAP MLAs should be disqualified for holding an office of profit, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had reportedly given instructions to expedite pending work in the unauthorised colonies, which is a crucial vote bank for the party.
In 2008, the Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit had issued provisional regularisation certificates to 1,639 unauthorised colonies.
Following a complaint by BJP leader Harsh Vardhan in 2013, Dikshit faced flak for her decision from Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin who had pulled up the state government for offering a pre-poll sop.
The present case is not a new issue, if the intention of the respondent (Sheila Dikshit) was clear, steps would have been taken and authorities would have been approached to do the needful, regularisation becomes an issue before every election, the issue is as old as 2001.Justice Manmohan Sarin’s observation
Legal Tussle Over Regularisation
Some question the move for regularisation as they claim that these colonies are flouting several norms related to building safety. In 2015, lawyer Arpit Bhargava had filed a PIL on seismic stability of buildings across the capital at the Delhi High Court.
The affidavit filed by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) took the court by surprise with the order dated 23 September 2015 stating:
An alarming position has been revealed in the said affidavit particularly in paragraph 6 thereof which shows that only about 25 percent of the Corporation Areas in Delhi fall within the planned/approved areas and the rest of it, which is about 75 percent is unplanned and unauthorised.Delhi High Court order dated 23 September 2015
Around 90 percent buildings in Delhi don’t comply with the National Building Code. The court sounded a note of caution:
The only conclusion that we can draw is that about 10 to 15 percent of Delhi buildings comply with the building code and regulations which are specific for Seismic Zone IV. The rest of the buildings are non-compliant. This is an alarming position and there is a disaster waiting to happen.Delhi High Court order dated 23 September 2015
“You’re putting the people of Delhi in a spot,” says lawyer Arpit Bhargava in a telephonic conversation as he emphasises on ‘the need to fix accountability’ instead of a mad rush to award legal status to colonies with ‘vulnerable’ buildings.
Another activist, Bhupinder Singh Rawat of the Jan Sangharsh Vahini, an NGO that has been associated with helping those deprived of land rights, says:
Legally speaking, no one can regularise unauthorised colonies. Most of these colonies won’t pass muster as per the norms laid down by the Master Plan of Delhi 2021.Bhupinder Singh Rawat, Activist, Jan Sangharsh Vahini
Will the AAP government be able to fulfill the promise made to the people of Delhi in 2015?
According to Dunu Roy, activist and director of the NGO Hazards Centre:
AAP has taken a step forward compared to the Congress party. Unfortunately, the Delhi government can’t accomplish this task on their own; they’re stuck until the central government participates as an equal partner.
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