Situated in the heart of Delhi between Karol Bagh and Sarai Rohilla, the bane of the area is unplanned development. Today, every inch of space is used up, including the basements, to set up lathe machines or electroplating units. The overcrowding was a result of the MCD rule which says that on a single premises, three different types of industrial activities are allowed. The DVB also, with a small penalty, allows for sub-letting and change of activity.

In 1995, the industrialists were given an opportunity to declare their electricity load as they were running units far beyond the load sanctioned in their licenses. In spite of no new electricity connection given for the last seven to eight years, new units continue to thrive because of sub-letting of the land to the last inch.

Apart from overcrowding, water and air pollution are a natural fallout since no agency has monitored the setting up of these units.

Till last month, the entire area of 1,541 industrial plots was on leased land belonging to Ramjas Estates. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has finally taken possession of the land nearly 50 years after the units were set up.

In spite of more than 3,000 industrial units in 1962, it was declared as green area in the DDA master plan. It was in the latest master plan that it was finally identified as a light industrial area with all the units becoming legal.

A worker at a machine-cutting unit, Ramesh Pal, says: ``We have become used to working in these conditions. At times we almost suffocate with the constant smoke and noise''. ``The sewage system is out of date. Nothing has been done for years to provide for the growing number of industries,'' says Hartej Singh who works in a motor parts units in the area and is coated with grease from head to toe.

Like in the other 21 industrial areas around Delhi, the proposal to set up a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), as directed by the Supreme Court, is still on paper. The CETP society has been set up, the money for it collected and deposited with the DSIDC (Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation, the agency responsible for actually building it). But work has not begun. ``We have done our bit. Why is the government not setting up the plant?'' asks S.K. Tandon, president of Nav Yuvak Manch.

It was only last fortnight that the earmarked land was taken over by DSIDC. This is what prevents agencies like Delhi Pollution Control Centre (DPCC) from taking action against erring units. The old-timers boast of the importance of the industrial area and then look at the generators spewing clouds of black smoke (four-hour power cuts are common these days).

``The parts which are built here are indispensable for Maruti, generators and tractors,'' says Gian Singh Sardar, who has been the Pradhan of the area for more than 25 years now. They also claim to have a special machine which is one of its kind in the world where there is minimum wastage in manufacturing wire mesh.

The locals claim that they have held meetings with the owners of the electroplating units to discuss anti-pollution measures. ``They are now neutralising their waste by mixing it with effluents of another kind,'' said Tandon.

However, a random survey shows that this was not actually true. Water containing chromium, nickel, copper and traces of cyanide flows freely through the drains.