Kathputli community meets PM Modi, demands residence to be developed as heritage village

A delegation of residents of the Kathputli Colony, a community housing puppeteers and artisans in west Delhi's Mundka area, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. They requested the place to be developed as a 'heritage village' allowing them to generate revenue through tourism as well as preserve their art at the PM's office.

The colony is one of the biggest and oldest slums located in Shadipur Depot, housing magicians, acrobats, storytellers, folk dancers, and painters, besides pupeteers. These communities are under threat of losing their art and means of livelihood, as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) proposed to rehabilitate them by relocating them temporarily till the place is redeveloped.

The delegation led by Rajya Sabha MP D Raja and other activists and theatre artistes presented a memorandum of demands to the PM including redeveloping the place as a heritage village, where, besides living areas, performance spaces and large workspaces, eateries and restaurants can be developed as a cultural hub drawing visitors.

The community also demanded being issued 'identity-cards' as proof of residency, so that they cannot be ousted for lack of proof at any stage.

The colony is the only such place housing street performers from14 states including Gujarat, Maharastra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh, and belonging to diverse communities.

Residents of the colony claim that even before making arrangements, the DDA has compelled 2,800 families to move to the transit camp at Anand Parbat.

On October 30, the DDA demolished over 400 jhuggis in the slum amid protests and stone-pelting from the residents.

As teams of officers from the Authority along with police entered the place during noon and started bulldozing the houses, the outraged inhabitants pelted stones in a bid to put them off. The police had to use tear gas shells and lathicharged on the protesting residents. The clash continued for over an hour, after which, the police detained some of the stone-pelters.

The Authority had last December taken up the demolition drive for in-situ development of the area. It had aimed to start work from March-end this year, however, faced stiff resistance from the residents who feared that their art, which is their means of livelihood, will be killed if they are relocated.

Dilip Bhatt, pradhan of the community, alleged that the DDA was forcefully evicting residents from their homes.

Over 3300 families used to live here. Of which around 1660 have been moved out to the north-Delhi based Anand Parbat transit camp. The camp has place for 2800 families. Almost all the families, originally from different parts of the country, settled here nearly 45 years ago.