Yamuna Pushta

Yamuna Pushta is the Pushta (embankment) on both sides of the Yamuna River in Delhi, starting from the ITO bridge and up to the Salimgarh Fort. It has also been home to riverbed cultivators, and over 100,000 residents a string of slum colonies (shantytown) for some 40 years, mostly on the western banks, like those near the Nigambodh Ghat (cremation ghats) near Old Delhi and a few on the eastern banks like those near Sakarpur village in East Delhi. Many of these slums were being demolished in 2004, after court orders which were part of the beautification drive of the Government ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and for creating a "green belt".[1][2][3][4][5]

Yamuna Pushta
Neighborhood of Delhi
Country India
StateDelhi
Languages
 • OfficialHindi
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)

Delhi slums

Delhi slums were developed by the migrant populations who could not afford land in the city, encroaching 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, taking refuge within the city. Yet year after year, these slums grew despite remaining outside the purview of urban development within city, and basic facilities remained 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]

The 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, these slums kept on refilling. Then, the 1982 Asian Games saw nearly a million migrant laborers 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 sports persons 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 demolition 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 had been asked to pay up Rs 7,000 per house as the residents offered to shift to resettlement colonies such as 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 the city had virtually no low-income housing that was 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 was opened there in 2007, paving the 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 had been relocated [17]

Aftermath

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]

Further reading
  • 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.

References
  1. community
  2. "Yamuna Pushta: riverbed settlements". plan.architexturez.org. 23 July 2006.
  3. "You Can't Bank By This River: Gods or foreign athletes can occupy Yamuna Pushta, but the poor? They just don't make the cut". Outlook. 20 November 2006.
  4. "A site of contestation". Vol. 22 - Issue 15. Frontline. 16–29 July 2005. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "Tale of two cities: As slums in Delhi are being bulldozed to yield ground to parks, river-front promenades." The Hindu. 30 May 2004. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. Verma, Gita Dewan (2002). Slumming India: a chronicle of slums and their saviours. Penguin Books. p. 89. ISBN 0-14-302875-8.
  7. "A lifeline ... under siege". The Hindu. 6 November 2005. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. Mahadevia, Darshini (2008). Inside the transforming urban Asia: processes, policies and public actions. Concept Publishing Company. p. 398. ISBN 978-81-8069-574-2.
  9. "Yamuna Pushta puts up a fight". Indian Express. 15 January 2004. Archived from the original on 1 July 2004.
  10. "DTC may ply special buses for Yamuna Pushta". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 May 2004. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004.
  11. "CAPITAL'S SEALING DRIVE: Whose Delhi Is It Anyway? -The Yamuna Pushta slums are demolished." Tehelka.com. 7 October 2006.
  12. "Yamuna Pushta demolition to begin today". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 17 March 2004. Archived from the original on 28 July 2004.
  13. "Process to relocate Yamuna Pushta slums begins". The Hindu. 13 March 2004. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. Davis, Mike (2006). Planet of slums. Verso. p. 100. ISBN 1-84467-022-8.
  15. Jayati Ghosh (5–18 July 2008). "On the margins". Vol. 25 - Issue 14. Frontline. Archived from the original on 29 July 2008. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. "Yamuna Pushta gets a new express highway". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 5 June 2007. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
  17. "The economics of the Games: Most scholars see only negative economic benefits to hosting these events". Live Mint. 26 October 2009.
  18. "How easy to dispose of the poor". The Tribune. 19 November 2006.
  19. "'Yamuna Gently Weeps': Demolition of the biggest slum in Delhi is the theme of the documentary." The Hindu. Chennai, India. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
  20. Pandit, Ambika (22 January 2010). "A day-long search for promised land". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  21. Pandit, Ambika (9 January 2010). "Rickshaw-puller dies on coldest day". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.

28.6589°N 77.24738°E / 28.6589; 77.24738

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