#GoodNews: Women Are Improving This Delhi Colony, an RTI at a Time

“We get very excited every time we get a reply to an RTI filed by us,” says Urmilla Devi, a resident of Savda Ghevra Slum Resettlement Colony, the largest slum rehabilitation project in Delhi. Residents of Savda Ghevra were relocated here in 2006 from slums near Pragati Maidan, where stadiums and other sporting facilities were constructed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

However, when the slum dwellers were first relocated to Savda Ghevra, the colony was devoid of almost all basic civic amenities such as access to clean water, sanitation facilities, public transport, public health centres etc.

Emboldened by RTIs

But when the women of Savda Ghevra colony were apprised on Right To Information (RTI) Act, by the NGO MARG, they started filing a series of RTIs to get their due. The women started seeing change on the ground as the first RTIs were filed, asking why only a handful of water tankers are sent to the colony that houses over 40,000 families.

Soon they received replies from the local administration informing them of the civic amenities extended to the colony. Thereafter, more RTIs were filed and in a matter of months the water tanker services were streamlined. Not only were the water tanker services streamlined, but the host of RTIs filed by the women of Savda Ghevra forced the Delhi Jal Board to install GPS devices on each tanker to ensure that water is not stolen.

Not An Easy Road

With renewed confidence the women of the colony filed more RTIs demanding amenities such as better sanitation, public toilets, higher frequency of buses, public health centres and many more.

With the filing of each RTI, the women watched their colony transform as more and more issues were addressed. In all, over 200 RTIs were filed by the women to different government departments demanding various services.

However, this journey has not been hunky-dory for the women as they have been repeatedly threatened and, on some occasions, even assaulted by tanker drivers for filing RTIs. Yet, they could not dissuade the women who finally understood that their strength lies in numbers. They even took some of the goons to court on charges of assault.

Today Urmilla Devi, who heads the team of women rooting for change in Savda Ghevra, insists on one thing, “All those women and men who live in slums and are not aware of what rights they are entitled to, should file an RTI. I don’t know whether the government is scared of RTIs, but it’s a very powerful instrument to effect change.”