From residents hesitating to invite guests into their homes, to air conditioners and televisions corroding within months, to monsoon floods that wiped out lifetimes of belongings, this crisis runs deep. We visited one of Delhi’s richest neighbourhoods, Defence Colony, to understand how a place built on military pride is now struggling with neglect and a dreadful stench.

Class Nine student Kriti says she feels embarrassed to call her friends home. Chartered accountant Namrata says her neighbour, for the longest time, tried to sell their ancestral home before finally leaving the neighbourhood. A former medical researcher and college professor, who requested anonymity, says she installed 28 air conditioners in her home, but within six months, half of them stopped working. Retired Indian Navy

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