‘Nark ko jhel raha hoon’: Delhi colony battles knee-deep sewage on roads, inside their homes — for 9 months

On Tuesday, referring to the recent death of an engineer whose car plunged into a water-filled pit in Noida Sector 150, Gandhi had written: “India’s urban collapse isn’t about lack of money, technology, or solutions. It’s about lack of accountability,” adding, “TINA : There Is No Accountability.”

Meanwhile, Delhi Congress president Devendra Yadav visited the area and claimed that most people who could afford to have left the area, have already done so.

Muhammad Aslam (45) has shifted to a rented apartment with his family a few kilometres away from his home, now filled with water. The family had bought five pairs of boots for navigating through the water. “We don’t know when we will be back. Nobody has come to our aid. The sewer lines laid in the area do not have a proper outlet. Main toh iss nark ko jhel raha hoon (I am living through this hell),” Aslam said.

AAP MLA Anil Jha on Wednesday claimed that the whole area is surrounded by a huge Delhi Development Authority (DDA)-owned tract of land where rainwater and sewage water discharged from houses were collected, pushing the level to four-five feet. “Since last year, a large number of trucks carrying waste from the nearby Bhalswa Landfill have been arriving. The land around the colony is being levelled. This pushed the water back into the colonies,” he said.

On Wednesday, around six vehicles of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were seen carrying and unloading waste on the said land, which is still partly filled with water. “We make around five rounds everyday and carry 300 quintals (of waste) from the landfill site during each trip ,” said Nazim (45) the driver of one of the MCD vehicles.

Water logging in Sharma Enclave of Kirari area in Delhi on Wednesday, Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav

While MCD officials did not respond to calls and messages seeking a comment, DDA officials sought time to respond.

Kamla (33), who has been living in the area for seven years now, went into labour in November. She too had to put on her gumboots before she made her way through a lane filled with water and sewage, as her husband and a neighbour held her. “It was 5 am. All app-based services kept on declining requests for a ride from here. They did not want to come here. After a few hours, I reached the hospital in my neighbour’s car,” she recalled. Her woes did not end there. One of the children got diarrhea. “We clean the floor, but water enters again. I don’t know how to throw used clothes as everything keeps floating in the water,” she added.

Another resident, Lakshmi (58), said she has not sent her son to school for around a month. “Yeh bhi girega, main bhi girungi, (He will fall, and I will too),” she said. She added that getting medicines has also become a task. “You can even see used syringes floating in the water. There have also been instances of snake bites in the adjacent colony,” she added.

Several shops have been shut as, residents say, people stopped stepping out in fear.