Struggle in Gurgaon slums: Life at the tail end of the growth story

Not far from Hero Honda Chowk, many in the slums around DLF skipped work due to the waterlogging near their houses and mopped their floors continuously, waiting for water to recede. Worse still, sewage was mixed in the water.

In the slum at Nathupur village, 32-year-old Nashiba Biwi, who came to Delhi from West Bengal seven months ago, spent hours cleaning her one-room house over the last couple of days. On Saturday, it rained and she could not go for work yet again. A pile of discarded waste lay outside her house, mixed in the mud. The area outside her house was covered in muck and people kept slipping. Her younger son had fever and slept on a bed. The elder son, who quit studies due to lack of money, stored water in a bucket.

“Whenever it rains, it is dirty all over the place. Our house leaks and there are chances of someone falling ill in the area. Living in dirt is common for us,” says Biwi, who works in three houses in apartments nearby and earns Rs 3,000 per month. She came to Delhi with her husband in search of better life.

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Not far from her house, Munna Sheikh (21), also from West Bengal, is saving money to “return home” some day. Munna, who came to Delhi in 2012, works as an office boy. The route to his house in a slum had ankle-deep water after the rains Thursday and Friday. He pays Rs 2,100 for his one-room house. Its condition is better than Biwi’s house.

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In his part of the slum, access to water is a big problem during monsoon. “People stand in queues to collect water which is not clean.

During the rainy season, it is worse. Some people fill the water in the bucket and let the dirt settle to use it, even for drinking,” says Munna. “I will save from my monthly salary of Rs 8,400 and will move back to my village,” says Munna.

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Unlike in Delhi, these slums are not on government land. They are on the private land and the owner arranges for the services. Abhishek Gujjar, who “partly owns” a slum, says they liaison with the corporation to avail of facilities in the area.

“Initially there was no proper sewerage for the washrooms, but later we managed to make a deal with the corporations,” he says. Gujjar says the area has been sold to DLF and once work starts the people in the slum “are on their own”.

In the slum at Chakkarpur village, at 11 pm Friday, there was no electricity and most men were out in the open, chatting. The placed reeked of urine. There are five toilets each for men and women nearby.

A woman who lives in the slum says, “Whenever it rains, the washrooms overflow with sewerage and we have to wait for the water to recede.”

This slum is on a slope and residents say that whenever it rains, water accumulates. Mohammad Quddus (44), who works as a cleaner in a mart, says, “We mop the floor continuously. It is a continuous process.”