Dalit village in Delhi still devoid of basic amenities

Local MLA said there was no such village as Jheemarpura in revenue records.

 

 

New Delhi: At a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been bragging about their work in Delhi, on the outskirts of the capital is the Jheemarpura village which till date is deprived of basic facilities such as high schools, polling booths and health centers.

Jheemarpura is a Dalit village bordering Haryana with a population of around 600 people. However, the village has not seen development in the last five years of the AAP government.

With lack of any direct link to any major road, the villagers have to walk a distance of 1.8 km to reach the nearest bus stop. Besides this, the entire stretch between the village and the road lacks street lights. A woman, who did not wish to reveal her name, said: “It is not only difficult but also unsafe at times for women to go to any place as there is no public transportation near our village.”

Ram Kumar, a 60-year-old resident, told The Sunday Guardian: “In our village, we don’t have any basic facilities. There is no high school after class 5. Also, we don’t have a ration shop or a mohalla clinic in our village. We are ashamed of calling ourselves as residents of Delhi.”

The village’s community center which was built in 2007 is now filled with cow dung and dust due to lack of proper maintenance. As the village only has a primary school, for higher education, the children have to travel a distance of 5 km daily.

“Children who have to travel 5 km daily for education face problems like harassment. We have taken up this issue to several officials, including our MLA, but till now, nothing has been done,” Kumar added.

In 2018, Jheemarpura was adopted by Udit Raj, then BJP MP of North-West Delhi constituency. Tweeting about the adoption of Jheemarpura, at that time he had even said, “Jheemarpura, a part of Jaunti village adopted by me to develop as an Adarsh Gram under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, is all set to become Open Defecation Free in a life-changing initiative.”

When The Sunday Guardian visited the village, it was found that many of toilets proposed to be built under the Sauchalay Abhiyan under the Swachh Bharat mission are incomplete. Patasha, another resident, told The Sunday Guardian: “Several years have gone past since the construction of the toilet in my house had started. But even now, the toilet has only walls.” Asked where they defecate, another woman sitting next to her pointed towards the open farmlands.

Ram Phal, another villager, also said that the villagers have not seen their MLA in the last five years. “AAP MLA Sukhbir Singh has not visited our village since election. He came here only during the election to seek votes. We voted for him, but he has not done anything for our village.”

When The Sunday Guardian contacted MLA Sukhbir Singh on the issue, he said that there are many technical issues because of which some government schemes have not reached the villagers. “For a mohalla clinic, there needs to be at least 5,000 people and Jheemarpura village has a population of only 600 people. Moreover, there is no such village as Jheemarpura in the revenue records. Hence, some government schemes have not been able to reach the village,” Singh said.

However, Naresh Kumar, a local Congress leader and AICC member, told The Sunday Guardian: “If the village is not in revenue records, how come the primary school was established there. It does not matter whether the village is in revenue records or not. As the village is in Delhi, it should get all the basic necessities available to all Delhiites.”