It has been 28 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown, but around 50-60 residents of the Chak Chila village residing near the Yamuna river has not got a single supply of ration or cooked meal from the Delhi government.
The people of the village are forced to rely on self-help groups or community kitchens, which have brought cooked food or ration for them by boat.
The Chak Chila village is 8km from the Delhi Assembly.
To reach the village, one first needs to reach the Yamuna Khadar and then take a 15-minute boat ride from there.
When IANS visited this village yesterday to take stock of the situation, Sikha Kumari, a resident said, “The Delhi government has not provided a single meal to us since the day lockdown was announced.” 
On March 23, Modi announced the lockdown from March 24 to April 14 to combat the spread of novel coronavirus  and later extended till May 3.
Kumari further said the village also faces the problem of drinking water and electricity supply.
“And for drinking water we need to cross the river by boat to fetch some water from nearby areas like Mayur Vihar or Okhla,” she said.
She said one of the groups has been continuously providing food to the villagers.
“They bring food everyday for us in the afternoon and they ensure that they send us more food packets so that we don’t need to cook our dinner,” she said.
The village has huts made of wood, and the earthen stoves in the houses have not been lit since the lockdown was announced as the money and ration with them have ended.
Another resident of the village, Sita Devi, who hails from West Bengal and has been residing here for the last 15 years said, “We are completely dependent on the people who bring food for us. No one from the Delhi government has come to provide food to us.” 
Pointing towards the earthen stoves she said, “We have not cooked food for the last 20 days as whatever ration we had is over now. There are over 10-15 small children in this village, who need milk on a daily basis but they have not got the milk either.”
Sita Devi said they used to work as farmers on the river banks, but as the soil turned infertile they had started working as daily labourers.
Another woman standing with her said that the government does not even provide drinking water to them.
“And now we want the government to provide us some help so that we can stand back on our feet to earn and feed our family,” she added.
Sonu Pandit, who provides food to the village daily said, “The cooked food which we bring here is prepared as the Sewa Kitchen run by BJP good governance cell in Mayur Vihar Phase 1.”
“Everyday around 11.30am we collect the over 100 prepared food packets from the Sewa Kitchen and then we bring it here for the villagers,” he said.
Pandit, who runs a cattle stable said the Delhi government has not provided food to these people since March 24.
“Even the ration or prepared meal provided by the Delhi government has been distributed on the other side of the river and not in the village inside the Yamuna river,” he alleged.
“The Delhi government promised to provide drinking water to every household in Delhi, but the families living here are not able to fetch the drinking water and they have to travel 4-5km everyday from their boats to get the fresh water.”