This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Number of villages

1911- 2001

The number of urban villages in Delhi, 1911- 2001
From: Vibha.Sharma, Dec 2, 2022: The Times of India

See graphic:

The number of urban villages in Delhi, 1911- 2001

Civic issues

2017

Paras Singh, Infra good, but villages off focus, April 9, 2017: The Times of India

Delhi, civic issues, Hauz Khaz, Malviya nagar, Safdarjung enclave; Paras Singh, Infra good, but villages off focus, April 9, 2017: The Times of India

Residents Of Urban Villages Say Funds Get Used Up In Upscale Colonies

Malviya Nagar and adjoining areas are home to a large number of affluent neighbourhoods inhabited by top lawyers, businessmen and bureaucrats. The area has a mix of planned colonies of 1960s vintage and urban villages like Humayunpur, Begumpur and Hauz Rani, which are dotted with small Khilji and Lodhiera monuments.

Post delimitation, the Malviya Nagar assembly constituency will now send three councillors to south corporation. Three newly configured wards are Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Safdarjung Enclave; the old ward of Hauz Rani has been dissolved and merged with Malviya Nagar.

Since the basic civic infrastructure is present, the residents' demands are restricted to regular maintenance.Ahead of the municipal elections, a large number of developmental works such as relaying of roads, footpaths and reconstruction of dhalaos are underway . But old sewage pipelines, parking and encro achments remain a worry .

The problems faced by urban villages--some of which are developing into lifestyle hubs--are entirely different.With narrow lanes and fivestoried buildings, the basic infrastructure here is under tremendous pressure. The residents rue that their areas lose attention to the upscale ones.

Malviya Nagar, which was initially inhabited in the 1950s by refugees from Pakistan, now has a mixed population.Parks and roads here are better maintained by the civic authorities as the area is represented by Satish Upadhyay , the former Delhi BJP chief.But drainage has deteriorated over the years. “A single splash of rain and the roads get filled up,“ said advocate H B Mishra.

Congestion is another problem. Without parking spaces, pavements are often occupied by cars. The corporation had built an underground parking lot at a cost of Rs 35 crore, which was inaugurated by Arun Jaitley in 2012 and was inaugurated multiple times after that. But when TOI visited it on Thursday , only 25 vehicles were parked there.“People just don't want to use it. They pay more and clog the roads,“ said the operator. The corporation is now planning to hand it over to DIMTS.

Hauz Khas is also home to the diplomatic missions of Albania, Iraq and Macedonia.But it also has several slum clusters. A quick stroll through Indira Camp in Begumpur and one can easily realise why the area suffered much during last year's dengue, chikungunya outbreak. Barely four-foot wide lanes are all strewn with muck taken out from drains.

Safdarjung Enclave councillor and standing committee chairman Shailender Singh said, “We have done enough work. The only problem is that the colonies were developed in the late 60s so pipelines are very old and sewage gets mixed with water supply , or manholes start overflowing. The Delhi government must sort it out.“

As regards the villages not getting enough focus, Singh said, “Due to unavailability of space, there is very little scope of developmental work in these villages. We had some scope in Hauz Khas Village and the area has been completely transformed.“