Sunday, 24 November 2024
Sunday, 24 November 2024
A stinking, effluent-ridden drain forms the moat to the back-end of Malin Basti. The banks display a frill of garbage
Denuded, narrow lanes such as this one, which opens onto the garbage-ridden nullah at the back, are typical of Malin Basti
"Nobody is bothered about us, now the time to vote has come, it is our time to reply," says Shekhar Kumar Sunia (left)
"Sarkar? What sarkar? asks Samdei, her tone angered and disdainful. "We live with our faces dunked in sewage, who are we to go to or tell? Jai deo (let it be)."
About the only government-given source of fresh water in the whole area. The pump doesn't always work, residents say, and when it does, it coughs out clouded water
A typical dwelling entrance. The writing on the wall above reads: "Swachchhata ka prateek" (symbol of cleanliness)
A group of ladies fan themselves and flies in the afternoon heat. "We have been left to our own fate, there's nothing to be done, just look around" says one of them
Gulab Lal and Rajesh Jaisar stand in front of one of several sewage spills that have broken through the ragged street paving in Malin Basti and spread putrescence and disease throughout the neighbourhood
