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

[Yousuf]

Agha Khan, Changez nahin hai, but people say that Agha Khan foundation is a full fledged country without borders. You must look at their site http://www.akdn.org/ Although they are doing some good work too, and appearantly in one news report they said the conservation of Nizamuddin area will not affect the people. 
   
  And yes, the basti is a kind of place where rumours do more damage than the bulldozers. People are generally paranoid because they have no access to real information. Also, they seldom trust any outsiders - even if you go as their sympathizers.
   
  Yousuf

  
jaya iyer <junglejaya at gmail.com> wrote:
    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 
  To: jaya iyer 
  Cc: sarai list 
  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   
---------------------------------
  It's here! Your new message!
Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. 


-- 
shanti shalom peace .... 

      
---------------------------------
  Looking for earth-friendly autos? 
Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. 
    
---------------------------------
    
_________________________________________
reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
Critiques & Collaborations
To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list 
List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>   
  
  
  





-- 
shanti shalom peace .... 

 
---------------------------------
Need Mail bonding?
Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20070406/338c8c36/attachment.html