Dirty toilets, no water: Harrowing stopover for Ajmer Sharif pilgrims

Pilgrims near the Nizamuddin Dargah on Wednesday. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

Huddled together on a pavement opposite Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah was 45-year-old Munni Begum’s family, devouring piping hot rice and chicken, cooked minutes ago. The fragrance of the curry got mixed with the stench of urine, and Begum — who is from Lakhimpur Kheri in UP — couldn’t wait to leave for Ajmer Sharif, on one of the 30-plus buses parked there.

“We don’t have drinking water here, the public toilets are overcrowded and dirty and we sleep on the pavement… We are treated like flies by the administration in Delhi. But we return every year, we don’t have a choice,” said Begum, guarding her one-litre bottle of water.

For the last few days, hundreds of pilgrims from across cities and villages — even as far as Banke district of Nepal — made the two pavements near Nizamuddin Dargah their home before leaving for Ajmer to observe Muharram. Single burner stoves and bags of vegetables and rice accompany these pilgrims on this annual journey. This is the second largest gathering at Ajmer Sharif every year.

The congestion in the area, caused by buses and vans en route to Ajmer, caught the eye of Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, who on Saturday asked the South DMC to “set up three parking lots in the area” and said that departments concerned should “create toilets, shelters, and temporary kitchens when the pilgrims visit.”

SDMC Commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel said, “We are due to submit our report regarding this on October 8. We are looking for parking space and the report will also include plans for temporary shelters.” Four days after Baijal’s observation, the ground reality hasn’t changed.

With a towel around his neck and a bar of soap in his hand, 48-year-old Mohd Zubair from Lakhimpur Kheri refused to eat the aloo sabzi and phulkas his wife cooked. “I haven’t taken a bath in two days. The queue outside the public toilet is so long… I waited for an hour and came back. I know the rate (Rs 5-Rs 10) but they fool many by asking for Rs 25-Rs 30 sometimes,” said Zubair, a tailor, who has saved Rs 12,000 for this trip.

Some, like 70-year-old Raja Kali, a farmer from Lakhimpur Kheri, instructed his family to walk to the park near the pavement, instead of using the public toilet. “I can’t afford such an expense… and so many times they ask for more money. We use the park now,” he said.