Delhi's urban villages: Between posh colonies and pothole-riddled roads

Residents of the city's Lal Dora villages face legal confusion, poor infrastructure, and neglect, struggling with outdated policies and exclusion from key schemes. Sarthak Choudhury reports

Ravi, a 49-year-old shopkeeper in Zamrudpur, makes his way carefully down the pothole-riddled road to his small hardware shop. Situated deep within the area’s narrow, congested lanes, the shop has been his livelihood for years. But even before he can reach it, he loses his footing while leaping over a pothole, scattering the items he is carrying onto the ground. Passersby rush to help, picking up the fallen goods.

 

“Earlier, I never faced such problems,” he says, dusting himself off. “My shop used to be on the main road, but when the metro line was being constructed in 2009, a