All the horses’ men

Not more than 500 metres from the Prime Minister’s residence and under the Delhi Chief Minister’s constituency are about 400 families living in the Race Course grounds in abysmal conditions

Sandeep Yadav Delhi

Prince of Rome, Rapido Gonzales, Shaolin, Elusive Prince, Madam Marina. Not only are their names royal, the treatment given to these horses will please blue blood. The humbly-named Rajesh Paswan, Prem, Ram Kumar and Harichand are among the humans at the service of these animals. It is not just the names that set the equine beings several notches over the humans.

Bang next to the Indian Prime Minister’s (PM) official residence, lies the sprawling Delhi Race Course Club. The Course is home to more than 470 horses, many of whom are owned by Delhi’s rich and famous. Under the innocent sounding term of “recreational activity”, betting worth millions takes place on each day. Not a fraction of the amount that passes hands reaches the workers hired to take care of the money-spinning horses, who are destined to live in a virtual slum, christened BR Camp, in the midst of plenty.

Haphazard, unauthorised electrification, dry taps, no school or dispensary, rough and tumble shelters and unkempt malnourished children running through narrow lanes lined with filth, faeces and muck, make the Camp uninviting. Necessity prompted residents to pool resources for a tube-well. An unwholesome odour wafts through the air. And all this, right under the nose of the PM.

Most migrants here are from BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) and are in two categories. One, employed with the Race Course Club and the other who are not, but are stationed at the slum on the ground that they are descendents of one-time employees of the Club. Of late, this group has been demanding the allotment of their present house and land on the claim that they have been living here since generations. However, they have failed in their efforts in spite of repeated promises by politicians. The case lay pending in the court. Ramesh Kumar, 54, the pradhan of the BR Camp has been born in these clusters and runs a grocery shop at the entrance to the slum. Though earning decently, Ramesh lives in a mud hut covered by tin. The reason: the Club allows only its employees to build a brick house. “The Club does not allow me to bring in brick or concrete to build a pucca house. They say it is the Club’s land, but my argument is that if the Club did not need this land for 50 years, why now?” grumbles Ramesh.

The allegations are dismissed by the Club. The chief executive officer of the Race Course Club, RB Chauhan says that if they keep on allotting land to the ex-employees there will be no land left for the present employees of the Club, besides which the land belongs to the NDMC. “These people should realise that so far the Club has been very sensitive towards their needs. It is sheer encroachment of the Club land and so far we have been very kind toward them in not evacuating our land from their illegal occupation,” explains Chauhan.