As I was growing up, there was always one predictable question and response. “Where are you from?” My reply, “Delhi”, would elicit an equally standard response, “but nobody comes from Delhi. Where are you really from?” I then struggled to explain that my family traced its history back many generations to Delhi and Chandni Chowk, where I, therefore, really came from.
When I think of the change I have seen in my city, this issue of ‘belonging’ is a big positive. Today, people are grounded in Delhi; they belong here. Delhi is cosmopolitan and alive. It is also the city that pulls in millions who come looking for jobs and homes. It provides livelihoods and it provides some education and health services — even if these are inadequate and definitely inequitable. Also since my childhood, there is one inevitable and massive change — Delhi has grown and grown. I was born in New Delhi, and the borders of the then city stopped not far from where I live today in south Delhi. Now it has grown in every direction.
The only part of Delhi, which remains in a time-warp, is what is known as Lutyens’ (or as I call Lootayan) Delhi. In this Delhi nothing (other than names of roads) has changed over the past 50-odd years of my life. In fact, in Lutyens’ Delhi, the population density has declined. In the rest of Delhi, it has exploded. This is the part where the powerful and rich live. The problem is that they have no idea of the mess outside their gated colonies.
Over the past many years I have seen this divide widen — there is today Delhi of timeless boulevards and serene living as against ordinary Delhi, which coexists with chaos, garbage, abject poverty, water shortages, sewage on roads and stinky, open drains. The problem is not that Delhi has grown without planning and execution. The problem is that powerful Delhi — where the government resides — does not even comprehend anymore the crisis in the rest of the city. This is why there is no desperation to fix what is getting out of hand every day. Everything works in serene Delhi. So, what’s the problem those in the government ask?
This divide translates into a complete and total inability to understand the scale and speed of the transformation that is required to fix what is not working. Take the example of air pollution, a subject I know all too well.
The fact is that Delhi brought in compressed natural gas (CNG) in early 2000 to clean up its air. But within years, the gains of this huge effort were negated. By the end of the decade, the air of Delhi was poisonous again. Why? Because, during the decade of 2000, there was an explosion of growth in its surroundings — Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad. Population and traffic surged. The scale of this transformation and its resultant pollution could only be stemmed by equally strong and massive interventions — and at speed. Otherwise, all that governments do is lost in the sheer pace of change.
This is the case with everything that touches the city. Today, the piles of garbage that fill our streets are growing. The river that runs through it is full of sewage. It is dead. It has just not been officially cremated. Large number of people still live in what are called unauthorised colonies — so nothing there is provided or officially available. It is all illegal. The ridge of the city, its big lifeline, does not have its boundaries demarcated. So, it is open game for all to encroach and take over. Today, there is a public health crisis with hospitals overflowing with dengue and chikungunya — all diseases of urban mismanagement – and there is no public outrage. All this should worry us.
Today Delhi is at a crossroad, where the schism between unreal and real Delhi will become so wide that nothing can be done to reverse the decline. This is why we need to act and act now.
The writer is Director-General, Centre for Science and Envoironment
