Redevelopment of Kathputli Colony begins

The Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) plan to provide permanent housing to residents of slums at Kathputli Colony got under way on Tuesday.

At a ceremony attended by Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri laid the foundation for the in-situ slum redevelopment project in west Delhi under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

‘Sign of hope’

Mr. Puri said the project will be a sign of hope and trust between the State and people living in similar slums across the city.

The Union Minister said the project, which was proposed in 2009, was finally seeing the light of day, and will provide clean and well-planned units together with adequate social infrastructure to its residents.

Mr. Puri said this was one of the first redevelopment projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

As per the agreement, the vacant site was handed over to a private builder, Raheja Developers, on February 12.

The developer is supposed to construct 2,800 economically-weaker section (EWS) houses of 30.5 sq m each within 24 months.

A statement by the DDA said the 12.89-acre site had been encroached by jhuggi dwellers of Kathputli Colony for over three decades. In September 2009, the DDA took over the site as its first in-situ redevelopment project on PPP model and the residents were shifted to a transit camp.

Transit camp stay

Puppeteer and project beneficiary Deepak Bhat said, “It has been a very long and painful stay for us in the transit camp provided by the government. We are emotionally attached to our colony and want to return to the area as soon as possible.”

Apart from the residential units, the project includes community spaces for a heritage museum, an amphitheatre, retail outlets, a police post, religious site, weekly market, a children’s park and an area for wedding ceremonies, said the developer.