[Reader-list] Post 6: What is the official settlement status of Basti Nizamuddin?

[Sudeshna Chatterjee]

What is the official settlement status of Basti Nizamuddin???

When I had started my fieldwork in Nizamuddin, I was convinced that it
was an urban village with Lal Dora status.  However, clouds of doubt
soon gathered over whether this historic village is considered Lal
Dora in the city Master Plan.  Residents of Nizamuddin as I found out
through my research did not pay property tax, and nor did they follow
any building bye-laws to construct their modest homes. In fact,
building related activities were a constant feature in the basti.
Construction, repairs, and demolition of squatters were a cyclic
happening in this place where the outside world seems far off and
distant, almost forgotten in the bustling immediacies of everyday
activities everywhere.

In order to find out who controls land in Nizamuddin, whether it was
still considered Lal Dora etc. I made several inquiries, and found out
that even if residents wanted to pay taxes, they like the city offices
I telephoned, had no information as to which was the correct agency to
pay to. In one afternoon I called DDA, MCD, the Mayor's office, and
the chief townplanner's office to find out the status of Nizamuddin.
At the end of the conversation with the townplanner, there was a
nebulous concensus that Nizamuddin did not have Lal Dora status.
Nebulous because he did not specifically say that it was not but, at
least clarified that as soon as an urban status is bestowed on a
village, it stopped enjoying exemptions granted to Lal Dora. It then
is governed by the plans drawn up for the zone in which it falls. In
reference to Nizamuddin and my continued prodding he said,  "Because
it is an old settlement it is not possible to ascertain original
owners. You will find it difficult to get any information from the
revenue department about the jurisdiction of the city agencies in the
basti. But the fact remains that whosoever is occupying a building or
structure in the basti is liable to pay taxes because the status of
the village is urban and not rural."

After the notional trappings of Lal Dora had been removed from my
conception of Nizamuddin basti, I followed up on property taxation
rules for the basti, and also sought a firmer confirmation of the
legal status. I present the following excerpt from my fieldnotes.

I had let the matter rest for a few days. But I didn't rest in peace
till I had found a satisfactory explanation. This afternoon, I started
googling Lal Dora with a vengeance. I found several newspaper articles
referring to the BJP's government's efforts to exempt not only
residential property taxes, but also industrial property taxes in Lal
Dora areas. There was also mention of extending the Lal Dora areas to
many other places, and doing away with Act xxx. None of these news
pieces answered my question of 'what is considered under Lal Dora',
other than a very tokenist definition of 'most urban villages fall in
Lal Dora areas.' I realized that I needed to search for listings of
Lal Dora areas. However my google sessions didn't reveal any such
list.

I then decided to jump into the MCD website and maybe send an email to
some listed contact. As I was searching for such a contact, a small
dialogue box with changing messages caught my attention. It had
telephone nos. for reporting dengue cases; news about digitizing birth
and death records from 1998, 278 Delhi hospitals being mobilized to
register deaths and births online, where to get information on unit
area method—dial 52895552 for MCD to view draft bye-laws on property
tax. Seeing a phone number, promising information about property tax
flashing in front of my eyes, I decided to call the number and try my
luck.

A youngish male voice answered the phone. I asked him, "I need some
information on Lal Dora areas, is there any listing of all such areas
available with MCD?" the voice faltered a little, then asked me back,
"Lal Dora meaning rural areas? Which exact area do you have in mind?"
I replied, "Nizamuddin basti. I want to know whether this urban
village is still a part of Lal Dora." The man said, "do you mind
holding the line for a second? I'll be right back." I was put on hold,
but thankfully without any background music. He came back soon, and
said, "ma'm, which side of Nizamuddin, east or west? There are only
two villages in Nizamuddin. They are Bangarpur and Naharpur, I think.
Nizamuddin basti is not an urban village." I asked him, "is there a
listing of this that I access and see for myself?" He gave me MCD's
official website, and asked me to follow the link to property tax, and
then download the different lists for rural and urban villages. I
thanked him for this information, barely containing my anxiety as this
last piece of information completely shatters the established and
firmly believed juridico-political conceptions of the basti.

I followed the links in the already open MCD webpage in my computer. I
could very easily get to the list of urban villages and rural
villages. I scanned rural villages first. No mention of Nizamuddin
either under village or ward. The urban village listing had
Behlolpur-Bangar and Sarai Kale Khan listed as urban villages in ward
Nizamuddin. There was no mention of the basti whatsoever. I decided to
look up the list for colonies. Sure enough Nizamuddin East and West
were listed in high tax categories, B and C respectively. Looking
through all these latest property tax documents for the city, one was
forced to conclude that Nizamuddin Basti is not an urban village,
certainly not Lal Dora. In fact the basti as we know it does not exist
by itself but as a part of Nizamuddin West, carrying an unit area tax
assessment for category C which amounts to Rs. 400/unit value of area.

This cannot be true. There has to be a missing link. I just cannot
believe that the city is so foolish that it taxes high-income
residents of west and low-income settlers of the basti at the same
level. I decided to talk to someone more knowledgeable than the MCD
officers. My first port of call was Lalit Batra in Sanjha Manch.

I narrated to Lalit what I had just found out and the implications
that I had drawn. Lalit first offered that perhaps Behlolpur-Bangar is
a misprint for Basti Nizamuddin. We laughed over it. But on a more
serious note, I asked him who I should talk to. Lalit suggested
Manjeet Singh, the ex-Addl. Commissioner of the slum and jj cluster
dept. he gave me Mr. Singh's number.

I called Mr. Singh as soon as I finished talking to Lalit. Manjeet
Singh answered the phone himself. I introduced myself as a PhD student
who is conducting a study in Nizamuddin basti. I said, "Sir, I want to
understand the status of the basti. Is it an urban village, is it
under Lal Dora?" Silence on the other end prompted me to continue. "I
have talked to six city departments this past week, but no one had
been able to tell me conclusively what status Nizamuddin basti has. In
fact just a while ago, I found out from property tax department of MCD
that the basti does not exist as a tax zone, but the basti as we know
it is part of Nizamuddin west, which is in a high tax category." Mr.
Manjeet Singh then replied, "First and foremost the basti is a human
settlement, and it is ruled by taxation laws just as any human
settlement in Delhi." "But sir, the tax category that it is a part of
now, makes no sense looking at the ground reality. In fact, as far as
I know no one pays residential property taxes in the basti simply
because they do not know which city agency governs them or what the
tax protocols for them are like." "You should talk to the tax
inspector and find out from him who is paying taxes and at what rate.
Ask to see his revenue map, and ask him if people are not paying
taxes, why is that happening and if he has done any survey to find out
the reasons. Also the basti as it is an old settlement will be looked
after by….(he tried to remember the name)…….check with the city zone
office in Asaf Ali Road to see if they have any document on
Nizamuddin." Sensing that the conversation was deviating from the
central question, I asked, "But sir, I need to know more than anything
else if Nizamuddin basti is no longer considered an urban village,
when did this recategorization occur?" "I think in the mid 80s when a
lot of slum areas were denotified. At that time some slums and urban
villages became colonies." "Where can I find this information." "call
the slum dept. and ask for a list of denotification of slum areas."
"Is there someone I can talk to in the slum dept.?" "Well the best
person would have been Mr. Journal Singh. But he just retired. Ask for
a Mr. Ramesh, who was my assistant. Tell him that you have talked to
me and need this denotification document. If he is not able to give
it, he will surely give you some lead." I thanked Mr. Manjeet singh
for giving me his valuable time. (Filednotes, July 4, 2005)


After this conversation I made a few futile phone calls to the slum
department. No one could direct me to the denotification documents.
But I still am not convinced as to how the city could blatantly take
away the status of urban village from Nizamuddin Basti and club it
with any other planned, high tax paying settlement of the city.
Nizamuddin Basti not only has historical and tourism potential of
international significance, both high priorities in the Delhi master
plan for the city to focus on an urban village, but it also embodies
all the characteristics such as strong identity, economic activities
related to place, compact built-form with mixed uses, to qualify as a
special area worth special attention. Moreover, looking at the
failures of the subsequent governments to provide adequate housing for
the poor, the residents of Nizamuddin deserve the highest achievement
awards for looking after thousands of people, mostly poor Muslims, who
will find it very difficult to sustain themselves and their families
anywhere else in Delhi, while preserving their own unique cultural and
religious identities.


Request to readers: If any one of you is aware of the legal status of
Nizamuddin as a human settlement, please drop me a line. Your insights
will be deeply appreciated.

Sudeshna