[Reader-list] Nizamuddin Basti Faces Massive Demolition onApril 10

Fri Apr 6 23:26:35 IST 2007

Dear sudeshna/ yousuf and friends ,

can i call you tomorrrow for more details, will try to be there or else
atleast touch base - am sure we can atleast start something moving- my
numbers are- 2652 0750/ 2651 9432

ayush has been filing RTIs left right and centre -  and thanks tara for the
optimism - jai ho
sana is a lawyer -so may be she can help us, but lets get the facts- yes
yousuf - these are big forces but what the hell *&^%$***#@!?^*

aga khan hai - chegez khan to nahin upar se woh bhi nahin uska ek
foundation ...

with love
jaya

On 4/6/07, Taraprakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  I hope, rather believe, that these are just rumors and nothing is going
> to happen to that basti.
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>  *From:* Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> *To:* jaya iyer <junglejaya at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 05, 2007 11:47 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Reader-list] Nizamuddin Basti Faces Massive Demolition
> onApril 10
>
>
> Dear Jaya I am unfortunately down with viral fever and not in a position
> to go around. But something certainly needs to be done. You remember the
> local residents we met during our heritage walk recce in the basti - maybe
> we could meet them and mobilize something. But I think in this case there
> are much bigger forces involved - Agha Khan foundation is pumping lots of
> money to restore and beautify Nizamuddin dargah area. So, there is very
> little we would be able to do. But we can certainly visit there and talk to
> the people. I wonder what the sentiments would be today after the Friday
> prayers.   Yousuf
>
> *jaya iyer <junglejaya at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> Dear yousuf,   this is so absolutely crazy - gets our fears about fears to
> be true- can we do something who is sudheshna ?, lets file an RTI through
> the residents on saturday - can be done even in the police station,
> bulldozers come with police - get some urgent media and some city
> organsiations - sanjha manch/ ashray adhikar abhiyan etc. for support - do
> you have details - asap please jaya
>   On 4/5/07, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > *Nizamuddin Basti Faces Massive Demolition on April 10 to Create Vistas
> > to the Dargah* **  As Delhi adorns herself for the appreciative gazes of
> > visitors to the Commonwealth Games in 2010, several habitats and lifeworlds
> > are being destroyed "in public interest" to make way for beautification
> > projects in place of dense, unseemly residential areas.   Nizamuddin
> > Basti, the thriving, bustling, colorful settlement with over of 800 years of
> > recorded history of continuous human habitation, is going to come under the
> > developmental bulldozer next week, on April 10 according to residents. The
> > grand urban revitalization vision for this master plan designated heritage
> > zone does not include anything in the foreground of Hazrat Nizamuddin
> > Auliya's Dargah.   The thriving settlement of Nizam Nagar, a
> > neighborhood populated by migrant labor for the last thirty years, will
> > definitely be flattened to create lush landscaped foreground for beholding
> > the monument from all three roads bounding the Basti—Mathura Road, Lodi
> > Road, and Lala Lajpat Rai Marg. The Dargah however had never been a separate
> > piece within the settlement but an integral part of the residents'
> > lifeworlds. The next layer of colorful pucca houses with many floors will
> > also be demolished as they too block the view of the dargah from all three
> > roads. Several shops on Lodi Road have already been sealed. A major part of
> > the open space on Lala Lajpat Rai Road has been walled up and residents said
> > that it will be made into a parking lot for the Dargah tourist coming from
> > that direction.   The pucca house owners will receive deals for
> > resettlement while the majority of the migrant settlers along the periphery
> > will be evicted without rehabilitation. No one has any information as to
> > what exactly has been proposed and by whom. There are rumors of MCD and Aga
> > Khan Trust and ASI working together to create a beautiful tourist paradise
> > with paved walking routes, lush landscapes and showcase remnants of the old
> > village and way of life of people.   I visited the basti yesterday and
> > felt people's helplessness. I made several phone calls to everyone I knew to
> > find out about the development plan. No one has a clue. Nothing is discussed
> > in the public domain. But how come all the residents knew? MCD has really
> > been smart about this one to avoid undue attention and therefore resistance
> > to the beautification project with Aga Khan Trust's money. I did the only
> > thing I could. I filed a RTI this afternoon with MCD. But as I am not a
> > directly affected party the information will be made available in a month's
> > time, long after the demolitions had taken place. I got the Hope Project, an
> > NGO that works within the Basti, to mobilize the community to exercise their
> > right to information and get it within 48 hours. But community mobilization
> > is easier said than done. Moreover, this is a long weekend. The governmental
> > machinery will be resting.   If anyone has any advice on how to put up a
> > resistance to an uncontested beautification scheme for a contested urban
> > space, please email me. Some of us are working on first assessing what
> > exactly will be demolished and what rehabilitation proposals had been made
> > for displaced people to prepare a case for resisting the demolitions and
> > demanding adequate rehabilitation for all displaced people. In addition I
> > would encourage this forum to engage in a much stronger public debate on the
> > future of the city and its quietly outrageous
> > beautification/revitalization/development plans ahead of the Commonwealth
> > Games.
> >
> > --
> > Sudeshna Chatterjee, PhD
> > New Delhi, India
> > ------------------------------
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>
>
>
> --
> shanti shalom peace ....
>
>
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-- 
shanti shalom peace ....
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