new delhi from the rooftop of a fourstorey building at the corner of the gali number 8 in jamia nagar scores of houses can be seen submerged in muddy water that has heaps of dumped garbage floating bythe river has crept into the narrow lanes of batla house built on the encroached yamuna floodplain no official contingency plan is in place to rescue people or check diseasesthe houses in these lanes have been waterlogged for several days residents said many homes have no water for drinking as the boring water in the area is now contaminated some homes have blackcoloured water coming out of taps the residents said that despite multiple complaints to the local leader people are being forced to live in the inundated area which could become a breeding ground for waterborne diseasesfrom the window of his home rafik who lives on the fifth floor of a building said that while some makeshift houses at the end of the land are half submerged his lane for the last several days has been clogged with water they are all stuck in their housesresidents of the gali numbers 6 and 8 of jamia nagar said that the roads for the last three days have heaps of floating garbage people who have stepped out have waded through kneedeep sludgewe have not seen such flooding in our area in the last several years a resident saidimran 33 who bought a flat in one of the lanes for about rs 13 lakh just 15 days ago said he had no idea that the area will get waterlogged so badly i am not able to not even reach my house he saidruksanas oneroom flat is close to the road which has been inundated she showed the grimy black water running out of her kitchen tap look at this water how am i supposed to cook with this how are we to drink thisthe 31yearold mother of two boys said that they were now buying water using up their meagre income of rs 8000the locals claimed that as there was no government pipeline for water supply they had to depend on groundwater which was getting contaminatedikbar 45 another batla house resident said we are living in hell but no official has even peeked in to see our condition or to help us we have complained to our local leader he said that its flood water and they cant do anything about it if the flooding happens in posh areas then the government will be quick to respond but not for usthe lanes which are closer to the yamuna despite being in a noconstruction zone house hundreds of residents in tall buildings over the years builders have contracted flats in this area which is close to the bank and sold them to people belonging to marginalised sections of society as they cannot afford housing in better places but now those builders are to be found nowhere they are responsible for this unhindered encroachment officials have also