Kathputli Colony

Kathputli Colony is a colony of street performers in Shadipur Depot area of Delhi. For the last 50 years, it is home to some 2,800 families of magicians, snake charmers, acrobats, singers, dancers, actors, traditional healers and musicians and especially puppeteers or kathputli-performers from Rajasthan. This makes it world’s largest community of street performers.[1][2][3]

Kathputli Colony
Neighborhood of Delhi
Country India
StateDelhi
Languages
 • OfficialHindi
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
Puppeteer of Kathputli Colony

The colony is undergoing an in situ redevelopment plan by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) of Government of Delhi.[1]

Etymology

The name Kathputli Colony comes from Hindi language word for puppet, Kathputli.[1]

History

The colony started in the 1950s, as a cluster of makeshift tents in an open field on the outskirts of Delhi, set up by itinerant puppeteers from Rajasthan, which gave the colony its name.[4] In the coming decades street performers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra also moved in. Today, it is prime real estate area surrounded by Mayapuri and Naraina.[1][5]

Redevelopment plan

In 2010, Government of Delhi initiated the redevelopment project of the colony on a public-private partnership basis. The contract was granted to Raheja Developers. As per the plan, 2800 flats will be built in 10-story buildings on the 5.2 hectares, apart from that a portion of the land will be given to the developer to construct its own commercial and residential buildings.[6]

Amid protests by residents and controversy, in early 2014, ahead of the 1 April 2014 deadline, some of the 2,754 families started shifting to transit camps built at Anand Parbat area 2 km away by the developer Rahejas. They are expected to stay here for the next two years, while the site undergoes construction.[7][8][9][10]

References
  1. "The World's Largest Community of Street Performers Is About to Be Torn Apart". Time. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  2. "Show begins at Kathputli Colony". Indian Express. 16 February 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012.
  3. Shrager, Heidi J. (20 June 2008). "Postcard from Kathputli: Magic Abounds in a Delhi Slum". Time magazine. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008.
  4. Regina F. Bendix; Galit Hasan-Rokem (23 April 2012). A Companion to Folklore. John Wiley & Sons. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-4051-9499-0.
  5. "Magic slum may vanish in puff of development smoke". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 March 2010.
  6. Das Sharma, Arnav (13 April 2014). "'Delhi's famous colony of magicians and puppeteers awaits destruction'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  7. Ali, Mohammad (27 March 2014). "'DDA granted undue benefits to Kathputli Colony redeveloper'". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  8. "Rumour mills stall DDA in Kathputli Colony". Deccan Herald. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  9. Kattakayam, Jiby (18 February 2012). "Transit camps for Kathputli Colony residents coming up at Anand Parbhat". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  10. "Uprooted Lives: Delhi's Kathputli Colony Residents Watched Their Homes Razed to the Ground". The Wire.

Bibliography

28.655°N 77.152°E / 28.655; 77.152

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