PhotosMakeshift Lives: Forced Evictions And The Uncertain Lives Of Delhi's 'Urban Poor'
Makeshift Lives: Forced Evictions And The Uncertain Lives Of Delhi's 'Urban Poor'
At least 280 slum cluster demolitions have taken place in the capital between 1990 and 2020. Following Covid-19 pandemic, the problem of forced evictions and the consequent homelessness has become a major issue for Delhi's urban poor and working class.
Updated: 22 Jan 2023 10:49 am
110Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A political party poster provides shelter to a family's makeshift kitchen in a cluster of shanties in Gyaspur.
210Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A chullah and a pile of freshly washed utensils mark out the family's kitchen.
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310Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A tree is used to hang belongings like bags and toothbrush baskets so they are protected from the dogs that roam the fields.
410Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A families belongings are grouped together onder a grove of trees where they spend the night. Snakebites are a constant threat and the few blankets they own offer little protection from the cold.
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510Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
Suman sits on a cot outside the tent that is her home that she claims the DDA evicted her from her home at the same location.
610Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A cluster of dwellings belonging to families that were evicted from the surrounding area have found shelter under the elevated Metro line, which provides some protection from the Cold wave conditions prevelant in Delhi.
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710Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
Ram Pal shares this dwelling with his wife Suman and their three children. He works as a daily wage labourer, but he says he doesnt earn enough to rent a house for his family.
810Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A shivaling placed under a tree serves as a temple for the 30 odd families living under the metro line. Around 700 houses in the area have been demolished and the residents evicted from their dwellings at Gyaspur on the Ya una flood plains near Sarai Kale Khan.
910Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
Rekha and Sushila work outside their shanties with a chimnies from the nearbye constructuion yead towering over them. Their falily runs a small plant nursery in the surroung plot of land, which they had to re start from scratch after the authorities bulldozed it a month or so ago.
1010Photo: Vikram Sharma/Outlook
A hawker with his wares in his basket walks past the remenants of a cluster of houses in Gyaspur during his daily rounds.