A brief history of Bawana JJ

Bawana is an urban slum, housing more than 9000 families in 5 main blocks (in addition to three more blocks which have started developing few years back). It is located at the far North West in the national political capital-Delhi’s territory. It is re-settlement colony, which has old and new migrant population from near by states of Delhi. Most of the original inhabitants of the colony are families whose slums were forcefully evicted over night by the Government from the central area of Delhi around year 2000 and were pushed to this far end of the city. The families were given small plots of land in compensation. One of the major issues that people here suffered after the evictions and re-location and continue to suffer has been the issue of livelihood. In their earlier places of living their sources of livelihood were within their access, as they lived in the heart of the city. Re-location to this far end has robbed them off these opportunities of making a livelihood as the area they live in is far from every ‘hub’ which can offer the unskilled labourers like them a chance to make a necessary living. Whether it was selling fruits on a roadside stall, or pulling a hand rickshaw, things became difficult and remain as an everyday challenge for them.

The slum has a high population density. The plots on which the houses are constructed are very small for a family to live with middle to joint families living together in one plot. (a mere 12 feet by 12 feet). More than 60% of the houses have thatched roofs and a mud-floor. Families living here are poor who mostly thrive on daily wages who are unskilled and unorganized labourers. The daily wages they earn are erratic and are bare minimum, which do not enable them even for proper food, clothing, and housing, leaving aside education and health. The government infrastructure for all these facilities is weak and inefficient, and does not address the need of the people. In addition to the needs highlighted above, lack of clean drinking water sources and sanitation of the community are other acute issues, impacting people’s health, especially young children.

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[1] These plots were allocated by the government