East Delhi: Sewage issues of <i>jhuggi</i>s spill over into upscale societies
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East Delhi: Sewage issues of jhuggis spill over into upscale societies

Residents of Vasundhara Enclave say Delhi Jal Board connected drains of unauthorised colonies to sewer lines of cooperative group housing societies.

East Delhi: Sewage issues of <i>jhuggi</i>s spill over into upscale societies One of the drains of Dallupura that was connected to sewer lines of Vasundhara Enclave

The Delhi government’s failure to provide basic civic amenities to East Delhi’s unauthorised colonies has become a cause for concern for residents of upscale societies in Vasundhara Enclave.

There are about 145 societies in Vasundhara Enclave and surprisingly all of them are struggling with the same issue — overflowing sewage. Two unauthorised colonies, Dallupura and New Ashok Nagar, located on either side of Vasundhara Enclave do not have a sewer line but rely on small drains to take their sewage into Shahdara drain.

According to residents, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has not cleaned these drains in the past couple of years and most have become clogged and defunct. To reduce the mess created due to this, DJB connected some of these drains to the sewer lines of cooperative group housing societies.

A report by City Spidey shows that the result of this was sewage water flowing from kitchen taps in many Vasundhara Enclave apartments, such as Deluxe Apartments, Triveni Apartments, Puneet Apartments and Parwatiya B4 Apartments.

JP Sharma, a resident of Overseas Apartments, says, “In unauthorised colonies, residents dump both wet and dry waste together. And non-biodegradable waste is the main reason behind choked drains. Delhi Jal Board's lacklustre approach in cleaning these drains is another reason. When these drains get choked, it just connects these to apartment sewer lines.”

 

Picture shows sewage coming from Dallupura village area (not in picture) flowing into a Vasundhara Enclave sewer line at Vasundhara Bhavan, East Delhi

 

Another resident, on condition of anonymity, told City Spidey that the vote bank policy of political leaders was the main reason behind these drains being connected to sewer lines of apartments. “Several powerful persons, including those with political connections, have either bought or encroached on land in Dallupura and have set up unauthorised colonies, or jhuggis. They know that when these colonies are regularised, the cost of the land will increase manifold. These people have pressurised the Delhi government and DJB to connect drains with sewer lines. DJB officials do not accept our allegations, but we know the entire story behind this development. Having no means of reducing sewage from these colonies, DJB has turned these drains into sewer lines,” added the resident.

When City Spidey spoke to Jaikishan Singh, junior engineer, DJB, he said, “I have reported the issue to my seniors. We will work on it soon. The road in which the sewer lines or water drains are located comes under Public Works Department. We need permission from it before we can start work on it.”        

BS Rawat, a resident of Triveni Apartments, says, “It has been nearly two years. We have fought enough against it but politically connected persons with vested interests have made our efforts useless.”     

SK Sharma, a resident of Anekant Apartments, says the problem of overflowing sewage has affected many societies, such as Lahore Apartments, Hindon Apartments, Abufazal Apartments and Sriniketan Apartments. “We are worried about what will happen in the rainy season. The situation has gone from bad to worse now, and there is a need for immediate action by government authorities,” adds Sharma.