Backyard Unauthorized Dwellings: A Very Common Problem With No Solution

By Srishti Jain:

“Living in a residential area”; what does one understands by this? A common perception would be about a clean society with houses surrounding you, maybe having a nearby park where the chirping of birds can be heard in the morning, and a market nearby.

But Mrs. Goel, would like to tell you something more as well, “the area in the backyard of my alley has these very filthy small dwellings made by occasional labourers who have made the pavements their permanent house.”

Such is the plight of the people of Paschim Puri area, in New Delhi, where instead of enjoying a normal roadside view people have to face the filth of the small, unauthorized dwellings, which is definitely not what they signed up for when buying a house here.

The residents are to park their cars at those places where these encroachments have sprung up. Mostly, the place is littered with human waste of the new dwellers, or is filled with small children who have made the parking pavement their playground. Without having any malice against those people, the real residents have started looking at them with evil eyes, as if they are the only harbingers of the problems in their otherwise perfect lives.

This problem is not unique to only this particular area; I have seen it in many other places as well. People need to be aware that the government has launched schemes like NREGA to help them uplift their status in the society, find some regular paid job and work and live in proper houses. However, a look at the backyard of such societies renders all these government programs and schemes, simply worthless.