Hidden Side:There's A Heavy Cost To Making Delhi Glitter For Games.It's What No One Wants To Look At

Delhi may well be bringing its citizens world-class infrastructure, thanks to the Commonwealth Games (CWG). But the human cost of development and the long-term impact on the poorer sections are either being underplayed or overlooked. As work races to meet the October deadline, stories abound of violation of labour laws, use of child labour, shabby living conditions, even deaths. The long-term cut: the CWG will leave behind lakhs of homeless.Around 15 lakh migrant labourers working in the capital are likely to be rendered homeless once their work for the CWG is completed.

Add to that the one lakh families whose jhuggis have been bulldozed to beautify the city or to create parking lots. Since they haven't been provided alternative housing, these people are either setting up makeshift settlements on the outskirts or on the roadsides. It's not as if the government doesn't understand the scale and magnitude of the problem. "We will have about 30 lakh homeless in the city after the games," says Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit. "This is a serious concern. Housing for them will be a priority after the games."

Under The Carpet

* The capital will have 30 lakh homeless after the Commonwealth Games

* 12-15 lakh of them will be migrant labourers who build the games sites

* One lakh families have been displaced to facilitate beautification plans and build parking lots

* About 2,000 boys aged 14-16 years are working at several games sites in gross violation of labour laws

* So far, over 70 deaths have taken place during construction work and due to diseases caused by the unhealthy conditions prevailing at the living quarters of the labourers

* 50,000 adult beggars and 60,000 child beggars will be removed from the city for the duration of the games and housed in camps on the outskirts

* There is anger over the money that is being splurged. Also at the new taxes announced by the Delhi government.

That "after", sincere and well-intentioned though it may be, is a giveaway to what might never get done, considering how the system works and considering the overwhelming numbers involved. And the amorphous noise of the suffering millions will drown out the pathos of individual stories, like that of Rani. For the last ten years, she lived with her husband and three children in a one-room house near the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place. A few months ago, they were asked to vacate to make way for a parking lot. No alternative housing was provided, so the family began to live on the pavement and it's from there that the children go to school. With the games drawing nearer, they fear another eviction.