India, Oct. 29 -- Anil Kumar Mishra

Delhi's lift policy was written to help the elderly climb, but it has quietly decided that one group of elderly residents does not count: the ones who live on the ground floor.

At Alaknanda in posh South Delhi two ground-floor flats sit at the end of a common passage. By the occupants' own account, that passage was about eight feet wide before a lift shaft, cleared by a 2016 NOC, was built over it. What remains is roughly 3 to less than 3 feet. One of the owners is a senior citizen who moves with a walking stick or a wheelchair. At the funeral of a ground floor resident, the bier had to be tilted to get through that passage.

The objectors has been in court since 2016. They say, on record, that they d...