Despite being located in the heart of Delhi’s posh Ram Krishna (RK) Puram, the unauthorised Anant Ram Dairy colony with a population of 3,500 residents that include educated and people employed in Government Departments such as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), advocates, and teachers is deprived of basic civic facilities.
Sixty-six-year-old Manudev Pehlvan said as the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) takes no interest in repairing pothole-ridden roads and picking up heap of garbage, residents pool money to get streets constructed during marriages or other important ceremonies. Other residents, mostly Gujjars, concurred with Pehlvan and said their several complaints have failed to prod the NDMC and the local MLA into action.
“The NDMC charges house tax but provides us with no facilities. Also, our water and electricity bills are high. We don’t understand why the authorities are dilly-dallying in authorising this colony,” rued many residents to The Pioneer which visited the locality to take stock of the situation.
Many residents lamented that the NDMC is not providing proper safety for the residents resulting in the rise in robbery and theft cases. Resident Welfare Authority’s (RWA) long demand of building closed gates in the resident has fallen on authorities’ deaf ears. Civic authorities are so corrupt that for every single work they ask for bribery, said a resident.
The colony established in 1973 is in bad shape with garbage piled up on roadsides being a normal thing.
Despite the pathetic state, the colony has been the hub of Paying Guest (PG) for college students of Delhi University colleges such as Jesus and Marry College (JMC), Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC), Maitreyi College for woman and a few other colleges of South Campus. However, many students are now vacating the PG accommodations due to high electricity and water bills, said Manu Dev, who owns a private hostel.
A ‘Harijan Basti’ in the area cries for urgent attention.
The area comes under the South Delhi Constituency whose Member of Parliament (MP) is Ramesh Bidhuri and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of RK Puram is Promial Tokas and when The Pioneer contacted them they did not respond to the calls and messages.
