Policy Briefs & Reports

The Delhi Master Plan 2021 introduced the “In-situ rehabilitation” approach to slum redevelopment, in which residents of JhuggiJhopdi Clusters transition to temporary housing while the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) reconstructs the settlement, and then shifts the slum-dwellers back onto the original plot and into improved housing. Kathputli Colony, located in West Delhi’s Shadipur region, has been selected by the DDA as the site of Delhi’s first in-situ slum rehabilitation. This paper lays out the trajectory of the Kathputli project thus far, examining the formal, legalistic framework and its relationship to the actual events documented in our research in the colony. We find that, four years after its commencement, there are many aspects of the project which remain unclear, both for researchers and for the residents of Kathputli even moreso. Despite the Master Plan’s attempt to move toward a more inclusive approach to slum redevelopment, the DDA is struggling in its effortsto develop an infrastructure capable of facilitating an informed involvement by the community or civil society organizations in the region.