Bhopal, May 30 -- At 6 AM, the narrow bylanes of Chhola are already alive with the rattle of carts, diesel fumes, and the sour stench of open drains. The gutters, choked with plastic and dark sludge, run like scars along streets that no longer remember their purpose. This isn't the aftermath of a disaster-it's the catastrophe itself.
Chhola, one of the state capital's oldest and most densely populated neighbourhoods, was once a modest hub near the northern railway tracks. Today it is a sprawl of mismatched houses, half-built tenements, and snarling traffic. The only thing that moves freely here is despair.
At the centre of dysfunction is the infamous Chhola underpass-a project once billed as a lifeline, now widely criticised. "It remains ...