Jeevan Sarita colony: A living hell

Maneesh Pandey / TNN / Dec 10, 2005, 01:09 IST

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Surrounded by "illegal" industries of plastic, cables and copper wires, the residents complained of burning eyes and breathlessness.

NEW DELHI: The factory fire in the Dilshad Garden area on Friday may not have claimed any lives but about 1,500 residents living in 320 flats of Jeevan Sarita Colony here say they are dying, bit by bit.
They blame it on the mushrooming of industries in the neighbourhood. Surrounded by "illegal" industries of plastic, cables and copper wires, the residents complained of burning eyes and breathlessness.
Black smoke and drains filled with chemical waste from these "hazardous polluting" industries is a common sight. Copper cables, bags of plastic enamels and batteries lie behind half-closed shutters as exhaust fans whir loudly.
"These industries, which have come up in the past two years, have become a health hazard," said Satinder Kumar, a resident of the colony.

We are now reconciled to live with burning eyes and the nauseating, foul smell around our houses which comes through the exhaust fans of these industries."
A new resident, Vinita, had to change her flat four days ago as she and her four-year-old daughter could not take it anymore.
"There was this exhaust fan, right opposite our house in L Block 1, running round the clock, throwing pollutants into the air," she recalled.

The Jeevan Sarita Colony is of LIC employees and they say they have complained to the authorities in vain. The society dates back to 1974.
B D Sembal, general secretary of the RWA, said: "The unlivable conditions forced us to write to chief minister Sheila Dikshit on April 12, 2005, but we have not received any response yet.
We also sent similar letters to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), MP Sandeep Dikshit, MLA Narendra Nath, the local councillor and the SHO. No action has been taken yet even as the pollution levels increase daily."
Added Anil Kumar, also a resident: "The road leading from G T Road to the main gate of the colony has been encroached upon in such a way that the residents had to open another gate recently."
While some local industrialists said they are just using the premises as godowns, others claimed they were operating from a "notified" industrial area, but senior industry department officials raised doubts about the claims.

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