Friday, March 29, 2024

Delhi: 5 years in transit camp, Kathputli colony residents wait for promised homes

“Gigantic bulldozers came. We tried but they didn’t stop. We all kept screaming but they didn’t even hear us, ” says Romi, a 35-year-old artist from Kathputli colony— a suburb in northeast Delhi

Kathputli colony is home to nearly 2500 families of street performers, puppeteers, dancers, acrobats, magicians, singers, actors and musicians. In 2016, the colony spread across 5.2 hectares was razed by Delhi Development Authority to construct multi-storey buildings by a private builder.

It was DDA’s first public-private partnership model. There are 16 15-storey towers proposed at the location to accommodate the original residents.

It’s been 5 years since they’ve been displaced from their original homes. Little has been done by the governments to acknowledge their problems.

The construction work commenced in 2018 and the first batch of houses was to be rendered by 2019. Unfortunately, none of it happened.

“Our houses were destroyed without any prior notice. We were not even given time to at least pick up our documents or other important items. Cops started beating us,’ Reshmi, a resident said to Maktoob.

The private developer was supposed to provide housing to 2,500 families and in exchange will be allowed to cultivate a commercial complex to recover the cost of construction and make the project financially attainable.

The families were temporarily rehabilitated in a transit camp in West Delhi’s Anand Parbhat, a few kilometres away from where the new housing complex is being constructed.

Rebani, a 58-year old Rajasthani folk artist says: “We were promised that we’ll get our newly built houses within two years after demolition. It’s been five years since this incident took place and now we have no hope.”

“Every family has been allotted a single minor size room. Each family has five-ten members. It becomes very troublesome for us to adjust in just one single room. We want to return to our colony, it is our only home.”

“The houses they’ve provided us here in Anand Parbhat are in a pathetic condition. There is no proper food, lack of water and even restroom issue. It is not a place to live,” Ahmed, another resident, told Maktoob.

With 2500 families cramped together, they were living on the edge during the COVID-19 pademic. Residents were anxious about coronavirus outbreaks.

“Lockdown was a very difficult phase for us. We know how we’ve survived. We had no food. We as artists are never given utmost priority. The government will do everything for the rest, but not for us,” laments Romi.

“Sometimes a few people come and serve us with small plates of rice or khichdi.”

Many residents shared that it was famine for months during lockdown. Non-Government Organisations have rendered a hand of consolation to residents of the Kathputli colony.

“At present, the residents of the Kathputli colony are stable. We have provided them with assistance and basic amenities. We try our level best to make sure that they are not deprived of any resources,” Mr Pawan Sharma, founder of Save Child Right Foundation, told Maktoob.

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