Nangla's Delhi

An interesting aspect is that the Slum Wing has only recorded 2808 households in the entire area! That is, roughly, a population of 15,000-20,000). In fact, the suggestion from the Slum Wing is that this is the actual population (an underestimate, since many at the time of the survey did not have proper documentation to be counted as 'eligible household'). If there are indeed around 100,000 people there (though this figure seems on the high side), where will the rest go? Recently, NM has been visited by groups of women from re-settlement colonies such as the outlying Bawana who are keen to provide as much information as they can about the rights people have with respect to laying claim to a plot of land in a resettlement colony. (Coincidentally, just yesterday (7th) , a group from NM was plannig to visit VP Singh re. the
demolitions).

Since, not many know what is to become of the land (and want to know, given all the hard work they've put into converting the once fly-ash covered land into a habitable one), there was a move sometime ago to file a RTI petition. Sometime in December, all except two entrances and exits to the settlement were blocked by the PWD, and soon after a rumour gained ground that demolition notices had been served. This turned out to be a notice to some to remove their houses/shops from near the high-tension wires and towers that run through NM.

Regards,
Sanjay Srivastava