Strings attached: Why Kathputli Colony is yet another year away

NEW DELHI: The decade-old Kathputli Colony redevelopment project has suffered another setback. The foundation stone of Delhi Development Authority’s project to redevelop the erstwhile shanty town was laid in April last year and the first batch of slum dwellers were expected to be provided flats by March this year. A severed power connection and dispute over land, however, have delayed completion by another year, according to DDA officials.


“We had expected at least two residential towers to be ready for residents by March, but now it will take at least another year,” said a DDA official. The foundation stone had been laid by Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on April 24, 2018.

According to sources in DDA, the latest setback has come in the shape of a religious complex abutting the barricaded project site. The complex has some temples, an ashram, residential quarters and a parking lot. “It is an encroachment spread over 4,000 square metres and we are fighting a court case to re-own the plot,” a DDA official said.

The project had hit a bump last year when the power connection to the project site was cut by Tata Power-DDL after dues from the colony residents climbed to Rs 3.25 crore. After special camps, DDA recovered most of the dues and power was recently restored. “The missing power connection and the ban on construction during the winter season resulted in delays,” the official explained.

When TOI visited Kathputli Colony on April 10, the site was dug up and foundation work appeared to be going on. A few structures, not more than four storeys tall, were visible on the periphery of the project site.

TOI sent a questionnaire regarding the slow pace of work to Raheja Developers, which is constructing the residential units, but there was no response even after 48 hours. TOI also sent a questionnaire to DDA seeking an official statement on the status of the project but there was no response from the agency either.

In lieu of constructing 2,800 houses for the slum dwellers, Raheja Developers will be entitled to build and sell 170 freehold high-income group flats and commercial built-up area equivalent to 10% of the EWS floor area ratio. “While land for the EWS units is unhampered, the temple complex falls in the area where the remunerative component of the project was planned,” the DDA official explained.

“As the project is being carried out in public-private partnership mode, the developer has to recover costs by selling some flats and commercial areas. Because of the encroachment, there is no clarity on when the private developer will be able to get the plot that forms the remunerative component of the project,” the official added. “As soon as we vacate the land, the pace of construction should increase.”

At the disputed complex, devotees told TOI that the temple there had existed for decades. Bal Bhagwan, the head priest of the temple and manager of the ashram, said, “This temple was established by my forefathers before Independence and apart from the shrines, there also are samadhis of ashram maharajs here.” He added that the area was depicted as a temple in land records, and that was the basis for the temple moving court. The case was in the lower court earlier, but is now being heard in Delhi high court.

“We are not against the project, but DDA should give us an alternative space to move to,” the priest said. “We are ready to shift, though the temple and the samadhis will have to remain here.”