You can go to some unincorporated areas around LA and find similar surprising backwardness -- like people living in unheated garages without running water
I think you are confusing the availability of infrastructure with the ability to pay for it. Anywhere in the US that is zoned for residential use will have access to clean water, sewage, trash pickup, mail, broadcast television, landline phone, police, fire, etc. So this garage, if it is in a residential area, and is up to code, will have access to these services, assuming the owners or occupants are willing and able to pay for it. I could go live in the garage at the Playboy Mansion, and I wouldn't have running water or heat their either. That says more about my personal living conditions than the infrastructure the government provides.
OK, I guess I don't see such a clear distinction between the two concepts ("available, but can't afford it" and "not available").
As I tried to say above, I agree that it's a denial of reality to equate India with the U.S. along the "poor infrastructure" axis -- based on some particularly bad examples. I believe we're in agreement about that.
I think you are confusing the availability of infrastructure with the ability to pay for it. Anywhere in the US that is zoned for residential use will have access to clean water, sewage, trash pickup, mail, broadcast television, landline phone, police, fire, etc. So this garage, if it is in a residential area, and is up to code, will have access to these services, assuming the owners or occupants are willing and able to pay for it. I could go live in the garage at the Playboy Mansion, and I wouldn't have running water or heat their either. That says more about my personal living conditions than the infrastructure the government provides.