Swabhiman Apartments, located in Ashok Vihar, Delhi, is a significant development initiative aimed at providing housing for residents of Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) clusters. Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 3, 2025, the project was envisioned as a step toward offering a “life of dignity” under the government's slum rehabilitation scheme.
However, hundreds of families who moved into these apartments say that promise has collapsed within weeks. Sold for ₹1,75,000, the one-room flats are already plagued by broken lifts, leaking sewage pipes, salty and irregular water supply, poor lighting, and rising incidents of theft. Garbage piles up in corridors because dustbins were never provided and sanitation workers are rarely seen. In several flats, sewage has backed up into kitchens and living areas, creating serious health hazards.
When residents raise complaints, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) each deny responsibility, claiming the complex hasn’t been fully handed over. This blame game leaves mostly elderly residents, women-led families, and daily-wage earners climbing multiple floors for water and living beside overflowing drains. Water tankers roam the premises, but queues are long and supplies insufficient.
Local BJP MLA Poonam Sharma acknowledges the problems but calls them “teething issues,” assuring that a single agency will soon be assigned full responsibility to improve accountability. Until then, maintenance fees paid in advance go unused, while residents continue to suffer from non-functional lifts, lack of waste collection, and poor security.
Officials have also questioned residents’ civic habits, pointing to tobacco stains on the walls and litter in stairwells. Residents, however, argue that they are forced to dump garbage nearby because collection trucks leave before they can bring it down. With no single authority accountable, both sides blame each other as conditions deteriorate.
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Swabhiman Apartments were envisioned as a model of inclusive urban development, offering slum dwellers permanent housing and dignity. Instead, bureaucratic inaction, lack of maintenance, and gaps in civic responsibility threaten to turn the project into a cautionary tale about the disconnect between lofty promises and ground realities.
Critics argue that the root cause lies in institutional failure—DDA, MCD, and DJB have failed to provide essential services like maintenance, sanitation, and water supply. Others highlight the role of residents in not maintaining cleanliness. The absence of dustbins, faulty lifts, and poor lighting only worsens the situation. As the residents of Swabhiman Apartments continue to grapple with these challenges, the key question remains: who is truly responsible—the institutions that failed to deliver, or the residents struggling to adapt? [Rh/Eth/VP]
