National Dailies

South Delhiites can’t live without them and they can’t live with them. Today (June 5), on World Environment Day, SDP takes a pointed look at the urban slums

One visit to the Jagdamba camp slum in Sheikh Sarai, near Malviya Nagar in South Delhi, and you see the stark reality. Like all urban slums, which crop up on environmentally unsafe land - at polluted sites, near solid-waste dumps, open drains and sewers, and polluting industries - the Jagdamba Camp slum is also an illegal establishment that cropped up over 20 years ago, and is today one of the largest slum clusters in South Delhi.

The water supply and sanitation facilities here are grossly inadequate and have led to serious health hazards for the slum residents. There is severe shortage of drinking water, especially in summer months. Most women have to carry water over half a kilometre to their jhuggis from nearby residential colonies," say Soma Dutta and Anjali Bhardwaj Sharma, consultants with Winrock International India, the NGO which carried out a survey of the impacts of poor water and sanitation facilities under their Environmental Justice Project.

"More than 60 per cent households use the public toilets being run here by an NGO authorised by the MCD. But the pressure on these toilets is huge, which has probably prompted the NGO to charge up to Re 1 per visit. This is an exorbitant cost", adds Anjali. There could be another reason, too. When the slum came up, enough vacant land was available around it so the slum-dwellers defecated in the open. But, in the last few years not only has the slum expanded, but the land around it was used for developing residential colonies. As such, there is now little "breathing space" for both the slum dwellers as well as the residents in the developed colonies.

"Though some have constructed private toilets in the slum, but these toilets are not connected to any sewer and open straight into a huge drain that runs alongside the settlement. The problem becomes serious during monsoons when the drain overflows, and there is back-flow of drainage and sewerage into the house" adds Soma.

Until recently, the solid waste from the houses used to be either disposed outside or in the drain directly, which led to frequent problems of clogging. Recently, the slum dwellers have employed a sweeper who charges Rs 10 per household per month and collects household garbage and sweeps the streets. The service, however, is irregular.

All these unhygienic conditions have led to the spread of severe infections and other diseases among the inhabitants of Jagdamba Camp. Among the families who were asked about water facilities, almost 70 per cent said they had cases of water borne diseases including diarrhea in the last one year.

"Delhi has over 3.25 million people residing in slums or slum-like conditions. Although slums are illegal settlements, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is responsible for providing water supply to slum-dwellers," informs Soma. According to the DJB, the water requirement of Delhi is about 900 million gallons per day (MGD), but DJB has an installed capacity of about 700 MGD. This shortfall affects the entire population of Delhi, but the greatest sufferers are slum-dwellers who cannot afford to buy alternative supplies of water, such as from private tankers.

Currently there are over 2,000 unauthorised localities in Delhi awaiting the green signal to be regularized. Against these, there are an uncountable number of small and big slums like the Jagdamba Camp, which are directly contributing to the poor health of not only Delhi’s environment but also the people of the city. The government will need to act on a war footing to tackle the issue of slums in Delhi. And one hopes, they begin soon.

What they say...

"Slums must be relocated to designated places, and made to pay for the infrastructure and civic services they are provided (even if it is nominal charges). When given free, slum dwellers do not understand the value of the service provided. Most slums have mobile toilets, but the children defecate in the open - more from habit than for any other reason. Similarly, they know that their surroundings must be kept clean, but habit forces them to do the opposite. Slums account for a large portion of T&D losses in power supply in Delhi."

Aditi Dass, Architect, Urban Planning (resident of Kalkaji)

"The issue of livelihood is closely linked to the issue of slums. Slums get located near middle-income or higher-income localities because these offer opportunities for work such as of domestic help, dhobis, gardeners, etc. It is an interdependence. Though for residential colonies slums are eye-sores, in their absence we will have to pay much higher rates for employing help. Slums are essentially illegal structures, hence they must be resettled but their livelihood issue should be attended to.

Vinita Singh, Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), Citizens’ Charter, Malviya Nagar

"The slums are a big nuisance, environmentally and socially. Increasing cases of theft and unhygienic conditions are directly linked to them. If the slums are relocated, higher-income groups will have to pay more to hire outside help, but I would rate the nuisance value to be higher than the monetary value. In any case, the slum-dwellers are living in in-human conditions, which is a burden on the government’s health sector. It is a big social issue, hence appropriate policies are necessary for all JJ colonies."

J.S. Sodhi, President, Sheikh Sarai SFS Flats Resident Welfare Association