Key Points:
VP Singh Camp residents are facing severe water contamination as the Okhla garbage landfill lies just next to the region. The garbage dumpyard has mixed with the underground water, making it unfit even for daily household use.
Residents do not drink the water supplied from the borewells and have to depend on Delhi Jal Board water tankers for drinking and cooking. In summers, tanker supply becomes insufficient, forcing people to buy RO water at ₹20 per 20-litre container.
Residents have repeatedly complained to the MLA and authorities about groundwater contamination and demanded extension of the Ganga water supply pipeline. Despite assurances, their mohalla remains excluded, forcing people to use contaminated water due to lack of alternatives.
VP Singh Camp is a colony located about 2-3 kms from the Tughlakabad metro station, Delhi. Falling under the Tughlakabad constituency, near the Okhla region, the VP Singh Camp comes under the jhuggi-jhopdi cluster by the Delhi Shelter Board. The region is named after former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh.
According to residents, the locality has been facing a huge problem of water contamination for at least 2.5-3 years. Okhla garbage landfill - a mountain of garbage in Delhi, lies just next to the region. The supply of the water comes from 7 borewells installed around several mohallas in the region. The timings of the supply vary around the different mohallas, but is only about 1-1.5 hours in a day. The residents of the area have complained about dirty water coming from the borewells.
NewsGram conducted a ground coverage of the area, and found several issues, from administrative neglect to the problem of Okhla landfill waste dump nearby.
Gopal, 41, a resident from one of the colonies in VP Singh Camp area informed NewsGram that there are about 7 borewells in the region, which supplies water to all of the area. However, 2 of them are faulty, and specifically one which lies beside the Okhla Garbage Dumpyard.
Delhi Jal Board (DJB) supplies water from Yamuna river, underground water and from the Upper Ganga canal system. Ganga Water supply pipelines, which provide drinking water, are installed in several parts of Delhi. The residents say that the Ganga water supply is in the Vishwakarma Colony, about 1-2 kms away from the VP Singh Camp. It is even farther away from the locality which is nearest to the Okhla dumpyard.
Jagraj Giri, a senior resident of the camp, said that when the tubewell (borewell) was installed, the water supply in the area was fine for about a year. However, when a portion of the dumpyard was brought down, it led to the wastage mixing in the underground water, which contaminated it, he added. “The water is so bad that when we bathe from it, our hair gets stuck. When we store it in containers (balti), the container gets yellowish”, added Mr. Giri. He further said that the residents only use the water for their utmost basic needs, such as cleaning the utensils, washing the clothes, and for basic toilet necessities. Jagraj Giri also said that when they use the water for washing clothes, the clothes get yellowish coloured. The problem is at least 2.5 to 3 years old, he added.
Residents from the area don’t drink the water from the borewell supply. The Delhi Jal Board supplies water tankers to the area. People collect water from the tankers. They use it for drinking, cooking and other necessary consumption. The situation gets quite tough in summers, when people require more water for drinking purposes, and there is often a hassle and tassel among the residents to collect the water. People more than often do not get sufficient water from the tankers. They have to purchase RO water from local suppliers, for about ₹20 per container (20 litres).
Ranjit Yadav, another resident of the locality, said that there is also the problem of land pollution, along with the serious concern of water contamination in the region. He said: “The underground water has become contaminated due to the garbage dumpyard nearby, which has penetrated the land to reach the underground water. Due to this, water tankers are arranged by the MLA, which is only a temporary solution for us. The fundamental problem of clean water supply remains unsolved. We want the Ganga water supply pipeline extended to the locality.”
Ranjit Yadav further said that the core problem is of the contamination of the groundwater, which cannot be merely remedied by adding another borewell in the region. “What’s of utmost importance is that the Ganga water supply pipeline be extended to the area, there is no other alternative”, added Ranjit.
Ranjit also said that when residents complained about the borewell to the DJB, their officials soon came to seize the functioning of the borewell. The residents of the area had to protest against it, because they have no other alternative source of water available. It is indeed a shameful situation that the residents are compelled to use the contaminated water, as they cannot use RO water, or water from the water tankers for their everyday needs, because of the shortage of money. The residents expressed their anguish over everyday problems they have to face, with no administrative heed to their problems.
The MLA for Tughlakabad is Sahiram Pahalwan from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The residents submitted their complaints multiple times to the MLA. Jagraj Giri said that the MLA has assured them that the Ganga water supply pipeline will be extended to the locality. However, a resident (he did not wish to be named) claimed that the Ganga water supply pipelines have been extended to almost half of the VP Singh Camp, from at least five years ago, but not to their mohalla. “Jab se yahan BJP hara tab se kuch nahi hua hai idhar ka, udhar ka hi hua hai” (Nothing has been done here since the defeat of BJP here, work has been done only in other areas) - said the resident.
“Jake Sahiram Pahalwan se Kahiye, Danda se marega” (Address the problem to Sahiram Pahalwan (AAP’s MLA from Tughlakabad), he will beat with sticks), added the resident. The residents also say that nobody from the MCD or from any other department of the government comes to clean the drainage channel (nala) located in front of the camp. The cleaning has to be done by the residents themselves.
The situation is not very good in other localities as well, which is a bit further from the Okhla landfill. Residents from other mohallas also have to purchase drinking water. They use the water from the borewell supply only for their basic essential activities. Dhruv Singh, a resident from another mohalla of the VP Singh Camp, where the water contamination is comparatively less critical, said that even if the water from the supply seems clean, it is unfit for consumption. Moreover, when the water is stored for a day, white particles form over the water, which is harmful for the body, added Dhruv.
Geeta, a resident, said that they want to request the government to provide them clean drinking water. Expressing her anguish, Geeta further said: “Hum log doctor ke paas bhi jate hain to doctor bhi yahi bolte hain ki tum log ye pani use mat karo, ye ganda pani ata hai. Kon sa pani use karein? Jiske paas paise hain wo RO laga rakha hai, hum log gareeb admi hain, RO kahan se lagayenge?” (When we visit a doctor, he advises us not to use this water as it is contaminated. Which water should we use? Those who have money have installed RO water filters in their homes. We are poor people, how can we afford to install RO water filters?).
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This administrative neglect reflects that there is no heed of the poor people in our country. They have to continuously suffer several burdens on a daily basis. While some problems are addressed, minor issues are left unaddressed for a long period of time, which become significantly bigger in the future. The residents of the VP Singh Camp have multiple times addressed the problems to the authorities, but have gotten false assurances in response.
The Indian Constitution guarantees that citizens have the right to clean drinking water, under Article 21. Delhi continues to face poor water conditions. Problems of sewage contaminated tap water, excess of pollutants (uranium, ammonia, E. coli bacteria, lead etc…) persist along with water shortage crisis. With the larger fundamental problem of water contamination getting worse and unaddressed, what remains to be seen is what practical and immediate measures are going to be implemented to solve this inhumane problem.
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