SLUM REPORT

Report covered in North-East district of Delhi

Slums are generally perceived as undeveloped places. These are certain segments of the
society that lack basic life amenities. They are deprived of permanent housing, proper
health and educational facilities, sufficient water supplies and access to electricity.

The 2011 census report of India shows that 31% of Indian people live in urban areas and
17% of the urban people, which is around 65 million people live in slums.
Even in metropolitan cities, mainly in Mumbai and Delhi, the numbers of slums are much
higher compared to other Indian cities. Mumbai, the financial capital of India holds the
biggest slum area in India known as Dharavi. It is Asia’s largest slum. It is spread over an area
of 1.75 km.
Keeping the census facts in mind, it was not very difficult to find a slum in Delhi. In the
North-East district of Delhi, there are around two to three slums in every 10 kilometres.
The slum that I covered is known as Lal Bagh Jhuggi which is in Shahdara. It comes under the
North-East district of Delhi. It is located between a flyover that connects Ghaziabad with
Delhi and the red line Delhi metro tracks.

It is a non-registered slum and around 700-750 people live in that area. The slum is 60 years
old and has been a shelter to poor people who come from outside
Delhi.
I followed around couple of slum dwellers and got to know about the various problems that
they face in their daily lives. Niranjan Kumar, a rickshaw puller like most of the male
residents is a 45 years old man. Living in E-132/27 of the Lal Bagh Jhuggi, he has 3 kids, all
boys.

Niranjan told me that only his youngest child (10 years old) goes to school. This is because in
that slum, it is seen that only kids under the age of 10 go to schools. He told me about the
basic life amenities that they are missing in their lives. For them, there are different
problems with different climates. In winters, they have health issues like falling ill because
of the low temperature and cold & cough issues. In winters, there are very few blankets for
a family of 6-7 people and 2-3 people have to sit and sleep in the same blanket to save them
from the cold. Every winter, close to 50 people (mostly slum dwellers) die of hypothermia
and the numbers have never fallen down since.
Niranjan still looked very positive and happy about the way they live there. He said “Last
night a man died of hypothermia. Around 80-90 people have gathered for the last rites of
the deceased. You don’t see a crowd of this kind in the last rites of the person”.

Likewise in summers, they face the problem of heat waves. The temperature in Delhi in
2018 reached to 46 degree Celsius. Since 1992, about 25,000 Indians are estimated to have
died because of heat waves. The water scarcity further exacerbates the problems of the
heat waves. There are very less tap waters in the Lal Bagh slum. The water tankers provided
by the government come just twice a day for two hours each. The water in the taps comes
from 5am-7am in the morning and 5pm-7pm in the evening.
The residents say it’s not enough for a place that holds up to 300 families. It’s not sufficient
for them to drink and is also very difficult for them to make food.
There no schools and medical clinics near the slum. The nearest school is around 3kms from
the slum which is also one of the reasons why the slum dwellers don’t send their children to
the schools. For medical treatments, they have to go to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital which
is around 3kms from the slum. Niranjan said ‘’the doctors take a lot of time to consult us
and make us wait for hours, it’s easier to be treated quickly when you are rich and have
powers.’’

On asked about what the women do in the family, he said ’’mostly women work as maid in
‘’kothi’’ and earn money for the family.’’

This picture shows us what exactly happens in slums, a small kid carrying a sack and running
towards his house. Most of the children aged around 3 years to 5 years do this on a regular
basis.

The Delhi government, that is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has installed ‘rain baseras’ (Public
Shelter) in most of the slums in Delhi. Here in Lal Bagh Jhuggi, they have put two rain
baseras, one for men and the other one for women and children. It has a space to
accommodate around 30-35 people. They have put water purifiers, television, coolers and
every basic need of a person to live under a shelter. On enquiring from one of the two
caretakers about the rain baseras, Ms. Jyoti said ‘’we work here on a shift of 8-8 hours each
and have provided basic facilities, be it the coolers for summers or blankets in winters or
good water and sanitation facilities.’’

The picture below shows us how the sun rises and sets everyday but nothing changes in
their lifestyles.
The future of this slum is insecured because it is next to the Indian Railway track and under
the elevated Delhi Metro line. The Delhi metro is also fighting a case in the court to clean
the slum because they say it comes under their area and they have to expand their line.

To end the report, I’ve few pictures that I clicked while reporting that would give an insight
into the life in the slums.