Two-wheeler riders, rickshaw pullers wade through muck

“I saw them coming around 9 am. They were dumping all the waste in the middle of the road. When I asked them to stop, they retorted, ‘when you don’t get paid for months, you will understand why we are doing this’,” Vikas, a rickshaw-puller from the area, said.

“Cycling through this muck is impossible and we cannot avoid it because this is a central location,” he said.

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The garbage dump proved to be a major inconvenience to not just commuters but also to street food vendors, who saw a fall in their business due to the stench.

“I start my business at 10 am, but today was different. I saw the main Vinod Nagar Chowk filled with garbage and the stink is unbearable. My business has suffered today and I hope everything gets sorted out by tomorrow.” Pardeep, a street food vendor, said.

Sri Ram Chowk, Mandawli, a well-known vegetable market in the area also faced the brunt of the strike with the market littered with stinking garbage. Many of the vegetable vendors as well as buyers had a tough time navigating through the market.

“What have we done to deserve this? As such life is hard for us. It is impossible for the customers to come here, the roads are slippery because of the muck,” Leela, a vegetable vendor, said. “We are contemplating to clean it up if it remains the same tomorrow,” she said.

“This is not the only place you will find garbage dumped on the streets. All the chowks of East Delhi areas — Ashok Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Mayur Vihar and Kalyanpuri — are the same,” Rajiv, a taxi driver, said.

(The reporter is a student of Exims)