Delhi’s rural belt cries in silence amid poll din
Broken roads, dangling wires from electricity poles, sewage problems, piles of garbage at every 50m of roads, polluted water, and whatnot.
The list of misery is endless when one tries to define any village of the national capital.
Since the announcement of the Delhi Assembly elections, political parties began flocking to the city villages which hold a sizable population and have the power to significantly affect the political landscape of the Capital.
The parties have been promising welfare schemes, better living conditions, all-in-all a dignified life. But the important clause is “if they are voted to power”.
Interestingly for outsiders, Delhi may be a metropolitan city, but in reality, it is home to three distinct areas: an upscale Lutyens’ Zone, housing the country’s elite; neighborhoods with a mix of middle and higher-income residents, and the villages that are often overlooked.
While much of the attention focuses on the first two, the issues faced by the villages remain largely ignored.
The villagers’ demands are substantial and varied, reflecting years of neglect and bureaucratic inertia. Among the key problems raised are land mutation, ownership rights, allotment of alternative plots, stamp duty exemption and the development of smart villages.
Notably, there are 360 villages in Delhi, which have received minimal attention in comparison to the city’s urban areas. Locals report that these villages are cramped and suffer from poor living conditions, with essential services like clean water, electricity, healthcare and quality education largely absent.
A major factor contributing to these hardships is the lal dora (red line), which confines villagers to areas that are far from basic infrastructure. Even more concerning is that these villages don’t fall under any ward or rural panchayat, leaving the residents in a vulnerable and neglected situation.
The villagers are calling for the notification of the 2041 Master Plan and the implementation of a more inclusive land pooling policy to ensure that villages are transformed into smart, sustainable communities.
To further delve into the issue, this newspaper visited multiple areas and found a range of hardships with which the locals have to deal on a daily basis.
Chaudhary Surendra Solanki, chief of Palam Khap, in an interview with The Tribune, said they had conducted a mega footmarch from October 13 last year, just months ahead of the elections to raise their voice against the long pending issues of the rural belt of the city. Just seven days before on October 6, scores of people coming from city’s villages had gathered at Jantar Mantar for an indefinite protest against a number of unresolved problems of the city’s rural areas, but they were removed by the police towards the evening on the same day.
Voices to boycott the elections were also raised, but gradually died down with the announcement of the Assembly polls and politicians’ multiple promises to cater to the demands of villagers. Meanwhile, this time the parties have given close to 25 tickets to candidates who are from the rural belt of the city.
“The condition of Delhi villages has deteriorated over time and people are facing a series of problems like the lack of basic amenities like clean drinking water, electricity connection, improper sewage system which overflows at regular intervals. More than 150 villages located in the trans-Yamuna area no longer even look like villages, but mere slum areas. The circle rates have drastically fallen on the border villages,” Solanki said.
He demanded that the government should enhance the budget which is being allocated to the villages.
“Here I would also highlight the land acquisition compensation which is way too less in Delhi compared to neighbouring state Haryana. At Bajghera village in Haryana, a compensation amount of Rs 13.95 crore was given to the villagers, while Bjwasan village in Delhi which shares a border with Bajghera, got just Rs 2.13 crore for an acre,” the Palam khap chief asserted.
