After decades of slum living, Bhoomiheen Camp residents are now proud flat owners

Dharamvir (65), who works as a supervisor at an automobile workshop in south Delhi, is excited to leave their three-room house at Bhoomiheen Camp and shift to a two-room apartment at the 14-storey housing complex that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday

Dharamvir (65), who works as a supervisor at an automobile workshop in south Delhi, is excited to leave their three-room house at Bhoomiheen Camp and shift to a two-room apartment at the 14-storey housing complex that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Surajmukhi and her son at their new flat, part of the in-situ slum rehabilitation project at Kalkaji Extension. (Sanjeev Verma/HT)

He and his wife, Dharamvati (50), were among the five families who received the keys to their flats from the PM.

“I couldn’t control my excitement on the stage. The PM also said that I look very happy. I told him that he has given us a big gift,” said Dharamvir, who has been living in the camp with his family of five for nearly four decades.

“Though my house is much bigger than the one I have got at the housing complex, I’m happy and ready to move at the earliest as we can now live with respect. People look down on you when they get to know that you live in a slum. They don’t trust us easily because the general perception about slum residents is not good. Another issue is the pathetic living conditions in slums,” said Dharamvir, who has got a flat on the 8th floor.

Like Dharamvir, most beneficiaries that HT spoke to also had not seen the flats allotted to them by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

The housing complex has 3,024 flats in four 14 storeyed buildings. “Each flat has two rooms, kitchen, toilet and balcony. The flat is finished with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, and Udaipur green marble counter in the kitchen, among other features.The complex also has a sewage treatment plant, and water reservoir, among other amenities,” said a DDA official, asking not to be named.

Like Dharmvir, close to 575 families got possession of flats at the housing complex built at a cost of ₹345 crore, which is the first in situ slum rehabilitation project to be completed in the national capital, said DDA officials.

Conceived in 2011, the project is part the DDA’s initial in situ slum rehabilitation projects to rehabilitate 8,461 families of three slum clusters of Bhoomiheen Camp, Jawaharlal Camp, Navjivan Camp, all located in Govindpuri in Kalkaji Extension, in a phased manner.

In the first phase, 3,024 flats were constructed on a vacant plot measuring two hectares. The second phase will come up on the land vacated by beneficiaries of Bhoomiheen Camp. The landowning agency has prepared rehabilitation plans for the remaining two camps as well. The DDA has given allotment letters to 1,862 families.

Shanti Biswas (70), who used to work as a house help until a few years ago, and her husband, Hazarilal (84), too received the keys from the PM.

Biswas, who has been living in the camp for nearly four decades, said, “We have waited for over a decade to get a flat. The camp has become unliveable.” She has got a flat on the second floor.

For most of the beneficiaries, safety, access to basic amenities such as clean drinking water, sewer, sanitation etc, are the main attractions to shift to the new housing complex.

Sameer Adhikari, 47, who has a private job, said, “There are five of us who live in a small room. The houses don’t even have proper ventilation.”

While most people who got allotments were happy, some are worried that they will now have to look for an alternative sources of income.

The Bhoomiheen Camp will be razed once all eligible beneficiaries are allotted flats to make way for the phase 2 of the project under which over 5,000 flats will be constructed for residents of two other camps in the neighbourhood.

Vinay Singh (42) has two shops on the ground floor of his two-storeyed house at Bhoomiheen Camp. His mother, Purandevi is another of those who got possession of flats at the housing complex. “The two shops are the main sources of our income. But they will soon be demolished. There are many residents who have shops in the area. We will have to now look for a job to provide for our families,” said Singh, who has seven members in his family.

The flats provided to people are 25 square metres in size and have two rooms, toilets and a balcony. “It is good for a small family. We don’t know how seven of us live will live there,” said Singh.

There are some who are not in the list of beneficiaries. Manoj (28), whose family has an electrical shop in the slum cluster, said, “My father has been living here for three decades. But we have not got any confirmation from the DDA on whether we will get a flat or not. If this camp is demolished, where will we go?”

In the neighbouring Jawaharlal and Navjeevan camps, residents said the DDA should execute the next phase in a timebound manner. Panna Lal (65), a local priest who lives in Jawaharlal Camp, said, “It took them over a decade to construct these flats. Even now, not all residents of Bhoomiheen Camp have got flats. I just hope that the second phase is completed in a timebound manner.”