The lament finds an echo among the nearly 4,000 flood victims in Delhi’s Yamuna Khadar area, who have faced a double displacement in weeks - first, they were forced out of their homes by the flood, now they are being made to leave their temporary shelter under the Noida Link Road flyover even as their homes remain inundated.

For the past month, humans and animals have been living side by side, despite the cramped space and unsanitary conditions, under the flyover. As the G-20 Summit draws closer and in view of Independence Day cleanliness initiatives, residents alleged they were asked to clear out.

When The Indian Express visited the area a week ago, numerous locals, who are mainly farmers, said they live beneath the flyover not by choice, but because they have no other option.

Mohammad Sayeed, who is among those displaced, said: “They have asked us to clear the area while our land is still inundated. We are not living here by choice; there is no privacy here, the portable washrooms that the government has provided are dirty and don’t have water.”

“We were playing during recess after eating lunch when my stomach started hurting… Some of my classmates started vomiting, and I too threw up. Our teachers noticed us and took us to a hospital,” said Vanshika, a class IV student at an MCD school in West Delhi.

The girl was among 28 others who were hospitalised after they fell ill in school on Friday. Several complained of nausea, stomach ache and dizziness.

Teachers contacted the MCD and officials took 15 students to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and 9 to Acharya Bhikshu Hospital.

Pooja, a Class 9 student whose six-year-old sister was hospitalised, said, “When I got back home, my mother was worried as my sister, who is in class 4, wasn’t back home yet. After a while, our neighbours told us that students at her school had been hospitalised due to a gas leak from the railway station. We rushed to the school…”