Pigs roam around in New Town; (above) sand dumped for construction chokes a roadside drain. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

If there is one thing that Prakash Bajpai, 49, regrets in life, it is his decision to invest in a New Town apartment.

“I had no idea what I was getting into while booking my flat. I now feel that everything that was said about New Town was a lie,” says Bajpai, general manager of marketing at Siemens VAI.

No garbage disposal, no drainage, not even 24/7 supply of drinking water — this showpiece satellite township lacks even basic amenities, leave alone the promised frills. Some flat-owners have shifted elsewhere but the majority of those who spent their life’s savings on apartments here have no choice but to stay on and suffer in silence.

Metro highlights their predicament in Part III of a series on the New Town nightmare.

Problem: The approach roads to the housing estates in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s dream township don’t make for a pretty sight. Riddled with craters, the roads turn muddy after a smart shower. Garbage and construction material litter either side.

Most of the drains in the area are clogged and the breeze that blows across the township often comes with the whiff of waste from the neighbouring Bagjola canal. Residents of nearby shanties defecate in the open, adding to the woes of the township.

The illegal pig farms that have mushroomed a few hundred metres from New Town’s only police station are also an unhygienic presence.

Residentspeak: “The surroundings are not only unhygienic but also a source of embarrassment for us. I hesitate to invite people to my place because they invariably ask me how I live here,” complains homemaker Anamika Dasgupta, 34.

For Zia Majeed, 31, employed with a private firm, each day in New Town brings with it a civic problem. “The heaps of garbage outside our complex will put off anyone. The drainage system is rudimentary and incapable of handling the sewage, especially when it rains. The stagnant waste is a breeding ground for mosquitoes that cause malaria and other vector-borne diseases. Several of our neighbours have been diagnosed with malaria in the last few months.”

S.K. Ray, an engineer, had no choice but to shift from New Town after his eight-year-old daughter frequently took ill. “Several factors make New Town uninhabitable but the absence of garbage-disposal facilities and a drainage system was the reason why I moved out. Even water is scarce. We used to spend Rs 400 a week on drinking water alone. My daughter kept missing school because of one illness after another when we stayed there for a few months.”

Homemaker Sandhya Bajpai, 42, feels depressed whenever she looks out of a window. “Every time we look out of a window or stand in the balcony, heaps of garbage and pigs covered in mud greet us. Slum-dwellers urinate and defecate in the open, and the stench from the nearby canal is unbearable.”

Officialspeak: Hidco admits that “a lot remains to be done” in New Town but also points a finger at residents who “don’t take the initiative” to solve basic problems.

“Garbage disposal and sanitation need to be improved. But many of these problems can be solved easily at the local level if the residents take the initiative. The drainage system is working fine. There could be some problems during monsoon but we will sort them out. As for illegal pig farms, we haven’t received any official complaint,” says a senior official.