
Schoolchildren in Delhi's Sonia Vihar face a hazardous daily commute as Main 25-Foot Road and Shani Bazar Road remain waterlogged, muddy and broken. Students from two private schools and one government school…
Schoolchildren in Delhi's Sonia Vihar face a hazardous daily commute as Main 25-Foot Road and Shani Bazar Road remain waterlogged, muddy and broken. Students from two private schools and one government school use the roads, which residents say have been in poor condition for years. On Tuesday, a group calling themselves Gen Alpha joined residents in a protest against the neglected roads.

Parents report children often arrive at school in slippers because their shoes get caked in mud. "Every second day, my kids come to school in slippers because their shoes get muddy," said Anjali, a mother of two. Resident Tinku Sharma described the situation as a "severe civic infrastructure failure year after year". The protesting students and residents have demanded immediate repair work from the municipal authorities.
Sonia Vihar is one of several unauthorised colonies in Delhi where the municipal corporation has long cited funding constraints to delay road repairs. Residents pay property tax but receive minimal civic services, a pattern the Delhi High Court flagged in 2022 when it ordered the regularisation of such colonies within a timeframe. The children walking through 25-Foot Road attend schools that fall within the jurisdiction of the MCD's Shahdara zone, which has one of the poorest road maintenance records in the city. While the students' Gen Alpha protest adds a generational dimension, the actual repair work depends on the Delhi government's PWD or the MCD allocating funds in its annual budget, which is yet to be passed for the current financial year. The next municipal council meeting on ward-wise infrastructure requests will show whether this year's budget will finally cover these roads.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.