NEW DELHI: Forced to leave their homes to escape the flooding caused by the swollen Yamuna river, there is anger among those staying in relief camps set up by the Delhi government. While some criticised the government for failing to learn a lesson despite the Yamuna inundating people’s homes every year, others claimed no rescue teams showed up to evacuate them.
“We lost our home. We are left with nothing. We have lost all our valuables and belongings. There was no one to evacuate us. We came here on our own,” claimed Rubi Devi, who is staying in a relief camp in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, on Wednesday.
“Our children are suffering more than us. Their schools have been shut,” she said. Rubi is among the many who lost the roof over their heads following days of heavy rains in Delhi and the upper catchment areas of the Yamuna. Many of those staying in the Mayur Vihar relief camp complained about the lack of basic facilities.
“We are facing so many problems here. We have lost everything. What will we do now? It’s poor people like us who are suffering and not the politicians. The government makes false promises but does nothing on the ground,” complained another woman staying in the camp.
“We came here by ourselves after wading through neck-deep water. Our houses were flooded. Where will we go now? The tents allotted to us are such that if it rains, we will be rendered homeless again,” she alleged.
Radhe Krishan, who was waiting in a queue to get food, claimed, “A local gurdwara is serving food here. What is the government doing for us? A flood alert was sounded last year as well but the government hardly did anything. The situation remains the same.” “What is the Kejriwal government doing? They come to us to seek votes but don’t have time for us when we are in trouble,” he said.
At the relief camp near the Rajghat bus depot, Kishan, a farmer, said he loses his crops every year to the floods. Asked why he hasn’t shifted somewhere else, he said he does not have the capacity to do so himself but will definitely move if the government helps him.