By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: If somebody wants to see human beings living in sub human conditions, then s/he can just go to the backside of Jogabai Extension, an area which is very close to Yamuna River.
Take the case of Qamar Ahmad and Mehrun Nisa, his wife. They are forced to live along with their 4 children in a place which is flooded with filthy and dirty water. This correspondent had to literally enter the knee-deep water in order to talk to Qamar and his family. Thanks to continuous rain and the utter apathy of the government of Delhi, this is their condition since last one week after the water level in Yamuna rose beyond the danger mark and entered their area.
Mehrun Nisa with her children, Aaesha in her lap
“It’s all filthy water and is a breeding ground of dengue mosquitoes but we are forced to live here because I am just a Rickshaw-puller and don’t have resources to shift to any other place,” says Mr. Qamar, with anger and helplessness implicit in his voice.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, he complains that no body comes in this area. The MLA had come just once and assured them of some place where they could shift but nothing has been done yet, he added.
Qamar Ahmad with his wife Mehrun Nisa and children
Mehrun Nisa and Aaesha, her youngest daughter, have symptoms of dengue. When Qamar took them to Holy family, the nearby hospital, there was no room for further patients. So, as the last resort they are taking medicines from a local doctor; because being poor, he can’t afford treatment in Apollo, the nearby private and expensive hospital.
Qamar Ahmad’s family is not alone in living in this condition. There are around thousands of people affected by this flood like situation in Delhi. The water level in the River Yamuna crossed the danger mark a week back itself which is set at 204.8 meters. When the water rose above it, low-lying areas of the capital got submerged. People residing in low-lying areas and the nearby shanties were trapped as the river breached its banks, flooding fields.
Qamar Ahmad outside his house
Like Mehrun Nisa, Murtaza Beigh too is having fever for last 4 days, one of the dengue symptoms but he doesn’t have any where to go. A hawker by profession, Murtaza told this correspondent that the government some times sends drinking water tank in this area ; but it gets hijacked by a bit well off class living nearby this slum, which uses it for the purposes other than drinking. So the people of this area are forced to drink the contaminated water of the hand pump in the nearby area.
Murtaza Beigh in his cottage
Local politicians blame government
“I have established a camp for people like Qamar Ahmad. They should go there,” says Asif Mohammad Khan, the local MLA.
But it turns out that there are just two camps, another one has been established by the government of Delhi, which are highly insufficient for hundreds of men, women and children. There is no space left in them for thousands of people who live in cottages on the bank of Yamuna.
Sajda Begum along with her children and Munnu, her goat
The MLA blames the state government. “I can’t do every thing. I did whatever I can to help out the people in need.”
MCD and DJB blame rain
The officials of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the two agencies responsible for solving this situation, blame rain and the water being released by Haryana, the neighboring state for this mess.
“New Delhi has recorded a total of 617 mm of rainfall during this monsoon season, much higher than in the same period over previous years, which has led to the flood like situation in many parts of New Delhi. The water released in Yamuna by Haryana has also contributed to this situation,” says Mrs. Sanjam Cheema, spokesperson DJB
Children of the area going to fetch drinking water
The normal day-to-day life of Qamar Ahmad and Murtaza Beigh and people like them, is anyways no less than a tragedy but what is a shame on the so called progressive society is, that even their tragedies don’t matter to the political class which instead of doing some thing for them, is busy in their favorite game, blame game.