Hop, skip and jump: Khajuri Khas police's seven-month routine

For the past seven months, police personnel of the Khajuri Khas police station have taken to a strange ritual: taking off their shoes, holding them in their hands, stepping on a cement slab and scaling a 10-15-foot-high wall.

- Jignasa Sinha

However, this is far from a superstition; it is a necessity born out of constant knee-deep waterlogging of the Khajuri Thana Road and the area adjoining Shree Ram Colony.

Rain or no rain, an overflowing sewer line in the area has turned into a menace to everyone here.

During a visit by HT last Friday morning, policemen were seen parking their bikes and buses near National Highway 7098, rolling up their trousers and walking on the footpath to reach the police station. But, once at the entrance, their only option is to scale the wall as both gates of the police station could not be accessed due to the water.

A Delhi Police constable, who was recruited this year into the force and posted to Khajuri Khas, said, “I don't know how long this problem has been going on but for the last two months, I have never walked into the police station normally. I have to climb the wall. Only those with cars (with a higher ground clearance) can enter.”

As the constable was sharing his experience, a group of women, walking to fetch their children from schools, chimed in to share their concerns.

Suneeta Singh, 29, a resident of Khajuri Khas, whose ward studies in a nearby government school, said, “It's a nightmare. I believe this has been going on for eight to nine months. For us, it affects everything around us. The sewer line water is so black and dirty. My son often slips and falls in the water when I am not here. I have to carry him home. He gets rashes and infections. The water level increases during rains. The government sent a few water pumping machines but you can see that nothing is happened.”

Children and elderly people were spotted struggling, to jump on bricks, cement slabs, cement bags and rocks to cross the road. Many were seen holding one another to walk safely.