Neither dead nor alive: Capital villages rue apathy

THE national capital, an amalgam of various cultures, ethnicities, and social classes, can be demographically divided into four zones.

- UJWAL JALALI

One is the posh Lutyens zone, housing the VVIPs. The second is societies where upper and middle-class income group people live, resettlement colonies where migrant workers dwell, and villages falling under the last category.

In the political discourse, the problems of the top three groups get due recognition. Reasons influence, vote bank and population. However, villagers, arguably the city's oldest inhabitants, receive cursory attention.

Delhi has more than 360 underdeveloped villages. According to locals, the Lal Dora (Red Line) confines them in cramped and unhealthy pockets. This has reduced them to living in inhuman conditions, lacking basic civic services such as water, power, healthcare, and good education.