Brief about Sanjay Camp
Sanjay Camp is situated in Chanakyapuri area, near the Embassy of Nigeria and the
1. History
Some of the inhabitants of Sanjay Camp have lived there for the past 30 years; “This used to be embassy area. We had come here to construct the nearby embassies and tin roofs were placed at this site for our work. Even after embassies construction was completed we continued to stay here in the same manner. Slowly we stated constructing permanent structures”.
Most of the people are migrants from the states of UP, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and
2. Occupation & income
The majority of the inhabitants are daily wage earners such as construction workers. Some of them travel to Navada, Noida, Gurgaon or any other place where some construction work is happening. The women earn daily wages as well. Few of them work as maids in the nearby area of Moti Bagh. The average household monthly income is Rs 2500-3000.
(i) Unemployment
This problem concerns mostly young people. Girls of the community learnt how to stitch and do some tailoring but did not find work related to these skills. Similarly, batches of boys were trained into computer skills, TV & radio maintenance but have also not found work in these sectors. According to the persons met, the unemployment of youth is a crucial problem of the community and training classes without placement or business creation support is useless.
3. Infrastructure & Services available
(i) Education situation
There are 8 anganwadi in the community for children within the age group of 1 to 6. For the primary level, there is one
Several cases of drop out exist in families where older children have to look after their younger siblings. The highest rates of drop-out appears in classes 6, 7 and 8.
(ii) Water
Water comes to the colony but is very erratic. There is one tap for most of the people living there. The tap is located inside a ditch which gets filled with dirty water during the monsoon thus creating a sanitation risk. Sometimes, people just get muddy water from the tap. The water usually comes for 1 hour only during which a high number of families have to collect it. This creates such problems that some people choose to cycle and get water from other areas like Rose Garden or Bapu Dham.
(iii) Electricity
Electricity is supplied to every house for free (no electricity bills). Sometimes the community comes together to get things, such as transformers or wires, mended.
(iv) Ration
In the colony, the ration service is very limited. People have to go as far as Race Course or Teen Murti to collect their monthly ration. While rice and wheat are regularly available, sugar is not. People suspect that the dealers often put fake signatures against sugar supplied.
(v) Transport
From the main road, the bus service is good and regular.
(vi) Health
There are no general health services available in the colony. The inhabitants have to travel to Moti Bagh for check-ups or emergencies. This situation becomes more difficult during night time. The only health activities going on in the colony are children immunization and pregnancy check-ups carried out by the anganwadi centres.
(vii) Sanitation
There is one toilet in the colony which has close to 21 seats. However, some of the people living near the railway also use them. Hence, the actual number of users is over the prescribed limits. Moreover, regular water is supplied for men but not for women. According to the people met this situation is explained by the fact that men pay Rs 1 for utilization and Rs 5 for washing of cloth but that the use of toilet is free for ladies. Hence, according to them the women toilets are badly maintained.
The waste collection is well organized. An NDMC dustbin is placed outside the colony and garbage is regularly taken out.
