Most of the houses in the Hari Nagar locality have temporary roofs and are built of cement and bricks and are in an urgent need of repair and upkeep.
According to the authorities, these houses are mostly unauthorised and were built in early 2000. The people who live there are mostly daily wage labourers who struggle to maintain their houses because of the lack of financial input.
"We are forced to live in such small houses and poor conditions. We are daily wage workers and live on rent. What else can we do rather than living here ?" said Sehnaz.
People of the neighbourhood are sceptical of their safety now as they fear that any day their poorly maintained houses can collapse. Upon entering the houses, one can see how the roofs are leaking because of the rains and to stop the water from seeping in, people place bricks on the already fragile roof increasing the pressure on them.
Due to leakage of water, the iron rods which held the weight of the roof had become weak. A layer of bricks is placed on the roof to stop the seepage. However, in the case of the roof that collapsed, the iron rods had weakened and could no longer take the load of the roof.
The houses are small, most of them having just one room in which a family of at least four to five members live. Open drains run alongside the houses which overflow during the rains and the verandahs are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Adding to the problem is the barren area behind the houses used to dump garbage.
The collapse of the roof of one of the houses should come as a wake-up call for authorities before more lives are lost because of the inhuman conditions prevailing in the area.
