Yamuna Pushta

Delhi slums were developed by the migrant populations who could not afford land in the city, encroached upon the riverbed. The Master Plan of the city described the area as "floodable". Hence permanent structures were never built by the government. Early settlers bought land from local farmers, some reclaimed land which others encroached. Thus grew several jhuggi clusters on both side of the Yamuna river. With the Yamuna flooding each monsoon, the resident of many of lower lying slums were uprooted, took refuge within the city. Yet year after year, these slums grew despite remaining outside the purview of urban development within city, and basic facilities remain minimal, and many stayed on because they developed into valuable vote banks. Another important reason for their development right up to the Nizamuddin bridge in recent years was the availability of work opportunities in the vicinity.[6][7]

First resettlement drive in Yamuna Pushta took place in 1967, and the residents of the slum near Jamuna Bazar near Nigambodh Ghat were settled in Welcome Colony in East Delhi, however with more migrants regularly pouring in this these slums kept on refilling. Then, 1982 Asian Games saw nearly a million migrants laborer coming in to construct games related infrastructure.[8]

Then in the early 2000s, the government activated its plans for the 118-acre (0.48 km²) Games Village to house the 8,500 athletes and other sportspersons visiting Delhi during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and also started an ambitious project of restoring and beautifying the 22 km-long stretch of Yamuna floodplain.[7] The Delhi High Court gave orders for demotion of the slums at Yamuna Pushta in May 2002, and in MCD had issued an eviction notice to the jhuggi (makeshift huts) dwellers on 12 January 2004 and at least 5,000 school-age children were to be affected by the drive. Slumdwellers have been asked to pay up Rs 7,000 per house as the residents offered to shift to resettlement colonies at like Holambi Kalan, Bawana, Narela and Madanpur Khadar, by the Slum and Jhuggi Jhonpari Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD),[9][10] though most of them became homeless since they could not even afford these costs, and further city has virtually no low-income housing that is affordable and legal.[7]

The slums were eventually demolished in a drive that started March 2004, after the Election Commission gave its permission ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and registration forms were issued to the residents.[11][12] In this drive 1,000 slum clusters from Gautampurui-I and Koyla Basti of Yamuna Pushta were demolished, in all more than 18,000 slum clusters from both sides of the Yamuna river.[13] As later studied revealed, the income of most of resettled residents decreased by 50 percent.[14][15]

Subsequently, an eight-lane express highway has been opened there in 2007, paving way for construction of the 2010 Commonwealth Games Village and beautification drive of the Yamuna banks prior to it.[16] By October 2009, nearly 400,000 people from three large slum clusters, of Yamuna Pushta, Nanglamachi and Bhatti mines have been relocated [17]

In 2006, a book Yamuna Gently Weeps: A Journey into the Yamuna Pushta Slum Demolitions was published about the demolition of Yamuna Pushta.,[18] and a documentary film by the same name made by Ruzbeh N Bharucha was also released.[19]

As of 2010, the area continues to be a home for numerous homeless people, out of the 1,00,000 homeless living on the streets of Delhi, where after cold deaths here, the revenue department put up tents in January 2010 [20][21]

• Yamuna gently weeps: a journey into the Yamuna Pushta slum demolitions. by Ruzbeh N. Bharucha. Sainathann Communications, 2006. ISBN 81-903827-0-5.
• Swept off the Map: Surviving Eviction and Resettlement in Delhi, by Kalyani Menon-Sen and Gautam Bhan; Yoda Press, 2008. ISBN 81-906186-1-X.

• Yamuna Pushta Gently Weeps, website
• In Delhi: 40,000 homes demolished so far (2004)