5 yrs on, Kathputli Colony residents to finally shift to new houses by Sept-end

New Delhi: Over five years after their houses were razed at Kathputli Colony here, families living in transit camps may soon be shifting to new houses as over 700 flats are likely to get ready by September-end in the area, officials said on Wednesday.

According to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) officials, around 2,800 flats are to be built in 14-storey towers under the in-situ rehabilitation project in Kathputli Colony, and these 700 flats will be the first lot of flats to be completed by the end of September this year.

"The work is going on at a good pace. Over 700 flats in Kathputli Colony are likely to be constructed by September 30, 2022," a DDA official said.

Officials said it is Delhi's first in-situ rehabilitation project that was conceived in 2008-09 on public private partnership, but could not be implemented because of stiff resistance from the residents of Kathputli Colony.

Kathputli Colony was a slum cluster and residents of the locality were mainly artists, including puppeteers, acrobats, folk musicians, magicians, dancers, among others.

The DDA had carried out three demolition exercises in Kathputli Colony to vacate the area and the final drive was conducted in November 2017. All houses were razed in the locality for carrying out the in-situ rehabilitation project.

Residents of the area were shifted to transit camps in Anand Parbat and Narela areas.

The construction work on the ground was started in April 2018 after Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri laid the foundation stone of the project. The deadline to give the first lot of houses was kept as March 2019, but the project was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic and the ban on construction activities in the city due to rising

pollution levels.