Kathputli Colony

KATHPUTLI COLONY AND EWS HOUSING
AKANKSHA S.RAO | MRINALINI VERMA | PRATYUSHA HALDER

INTRODUCTION
Kathputli Colony is a colony of street performers in Shadipur Depot area of Delhi. For the last 40 years,
it is home to some 2,800 families of magicians, snake charmers, acrobats, singers, dancers, actors,
traditional healers and musicians and especially puppeteers or kathputli-performers from Rajasthan.
This makes it world’s largest community of street performers.
The colony is undergoing an in situ redevelopment plan by Delhi Development Authority (DDA)
of Government of Delhi.
BRIEF HISTORY AND CONDITION OF KATHPUTLI COLONY
In the early 1970s, a handful of itinerant performers from Rajasthan settled in West Delhi‟s Shadipur
region. Such artists—primarily puppeteers and musicians—often migrated through the capital, and
Shadipur made a convenient location for commuting to performances across the city. Over time, they
were joined by a variety of artists from states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and together,
they began to cohere into a single settlement known as Kathputli.
Over the next two decades, the settlement organized around its artistry, forming the Bhule Bhisre
Kalakar Cooperative. With the help of the Asian Heritage Foundation, Kathputli artists found work
through the Sangeet Natak Academy, a performing arts council established by the Indian
government in Delhi.
Around this time, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) began to push for slum resettlement. In 1986,
they proposed the resettlement of Kathputli residents in the South Delhi region of Vasant Kunj. Around
1990, DDA Slum Wing architect Anil Lall drafted more detailed plans for upgradation, according to a
duplex-style housing model. And in 1996, they drafted another proposal for resettlement in Mehrauli,
also located in South Delhi. All of these proposals were rejected on the grounds that neither location
was as centrally located as their current Shadipur settlement.
Finally, following an express inclination toward in-situ rehabilitation of JJ clusters in the Master Plan
2021, the DDA chose Kathputli as the site of its first such project.
Early 1970s 1982 1986 1990

In Master Plan
•Artists from •Kathputli •Proposed •Anil Lall
2021, following
Rajasthan colony gained resettlement drafted
However, all the in-situ
settled in international to Vasant more
these rehabilitation
Shadipur recognition Kunj detailed
proposals were for JJ clusters –
•People from •DDA began to plans for
rejected Kathputli
other states push for slum upgradation
Colony, the first
also migrated resettlement project
to this
settlement
CONDITION OF KATHPUTLI COLONY
DDA REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT
DDA for the first time has launched the "In-Situ

Slum Rehabilitation Scheme" to rehabilitate
slum dwellers. Under the scheme, re-settlement
will be done on the land occupied by JJ
clusters with private partnership. The land will
be sold through the tender process to a
private partner for construction of multi-storey
houses. The first tender was floated to
rehabilitate Kathputli Colony which is one of
Delhi's largest slum clusters and was won in a
competitive open tender process by a Delhi
based developer, Raheja developers Ltd.
Under this scheme, the 2800 families of Kathputli shall be given a new lease of life by providing them the
latest modern apartments with high-end amenities like attached Bath, Toilets & Kitchens, Tiled flooring,
Advanced Fire Detection & Fire Sprinter Systems. Seismic Zone 5 compliant RCC structure designed and
certified by IIT/ other reputed structure MEP consultants.
Till the time these structures are built on site the Kathputli colony residents shall be rehabilitated in a Transit
Camp facility at Anand Parbat barely, 1.8 kms away from the Kathputli Colony. This shall be only for 2-3
years by which time the buildings shall be ready.
All this is being allotted to the Kathputli residents and the costs are borne by the private developer, who in
lieu of this will get a small portion of site for a private development which he can sell in open market to
recover the massive construction costs of 2800 apartments at Kathputli colony and another 2800
independent houses at Transit Camp.
DDA REDEVELOPMENT CONTRACT WITH RAHEJA DEVELOPERS
2800 HOUSES ROOM AREA : 9SQM
MULTIPURPOSE ROOM : 6.5SQM

DETAIL OF EACH DWELLING: 30.5 SQM area
BATH : 1.2 SQM
KITCHEN : 3.3 SQM
OTHER AMENITIES:
PRIMARY SCHOOL ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION
SR. SEC. SCHOOL FIREFIGHTING
MULTI PURPOSE HALL WATER TANKS
BASTI VIKAS KENDRA INTERNAL ROADS
POLICE STATION
DAIRY “Possession of the site
FAIR PRICE SHOP would not be granted till a
SHISHU VATIKA provisional transit camp is
KEROSENE STORE built by the developer”
DDA REDEVELOPMENT CONTRACT WITH RAHEJA DEVELOPERS
2800 HOUSES ROOM AREA : 9SQM
MULTIPURPOSE ROOM : 6.5SQM

DETAIL OF EACH DWELLING: 30.5 SQM area
BATH : 1.2 SQM
KITCHEN : 3.3 SQM

RENDERED VIEW OF PROPOSED IN-SITU REHABILITATION COLONY
“lit up from the ground, a soaring glass skyscraper with a pool and a plaza, beside which the hazy outlines
of the EWS high-rises are not clearly visible..”
The aim is that it should require less
maintenance, while achieving high standards of
parameters such as a quality of life, physical
environment, economic stability, socio-cultural
values and urban sustainability.
The developer has to provide 2800 affordable
units and in return he is given land by DDA to
develop 130 high end residential units and
17000sq.mt commercial area.
clockwise: 1. Proposed rehabilitation colony 2.

Proposed high end housing that will be built on land
given by DDA to Raheja 3. Community space
Kathputli colony
TRANSIT CAMP
LOCATION :
Anand parbat was chosen as the spot for
relocation in march 2011, around five
kilometers from the original settlement
The transit camp itself is situated on an empty

DDA plot with a a ring of settlements around
it. It‟s a diverse developmental terrain; almost
every category of DDA settlement—
authorized colony, unauthorized (now
regularized) colony, recognized slum, and JJ
cluster—is represented in the area. On the
Ramjas Grounds landscape, the camp
appears starkly out of place.
The Transit Camp is finally ready to

rehabilitate all 2800 slum dwellers families of
Kathputli Colony.
The camp has various facilities like:

Ultra modern pre fabricated structures
RO filtered drinking water
Wide roads TRANSIT CAMP UNIT :
Electricity Ivory single story blocks made up of gypsum
Adequate number of toilet and bathing boards
facilities
Community facilities One room , single fan, single electrical outlet
Street lighting
Greenery No provision of water inlets and sewage outlets
STP
Performance & Display Areas Portable toilets will be imported by DDA
TRANSIT CAMP
REACTION OF THE KATHPUTLI COLONY DWELLERS
Meanwhile, a group of residents from the
colony, who are opposing the project, said
they wanted plots in the area instead of flats.
“On Tuesday, people from the DDA came to
the colony and tried to issue tokens to people
for relocating to Anand Parbat. This is despite
the Lt-Governor’s order of not using forceful
means. We are not in favour of shifting. We
want the DDA to hand us plots instead,” one
of the pradhans of the area said.

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KATHPUTLI COLONY AND EWS HOUSING

AKANKSHA S.RAO | MRINALINI VERMA | PRATYUSHA HALDER

Early 1970s 1982 1986 1990

DDA for the first time has launched the "In-Situ

2800 HOUSES ROOM AREA : 9SQM

MULTIPURPOSE ROOM : 6.5SQM

KITCHEN : 3.3 SQM

2800 HOUSES ROOM AREA : 9SQM

MULTIPURPOSE ROOM : 6.5SQM

KITCHEN : 3.3 SQM

clockwise: 1. Proposed rehabilitation colony 2.

The transit camp itself is situated on an empty

The Transit Camp is finally ready to

The camp has various facilities like:

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