Most densely populated is home to dreams,squalor

This is Northeast Delhi which,as per the 2011 Census provisional report,has the highest population density — 37,346 per sq km.

In its colonies,the evidence is not hard to find. Rents are cheap,and finding accommodation isn’t hard.

Caught in the midst of urbanisation and ruralisation,Seelampur is a culture cauldron,with melting identities and struggling families. This was one of the first resettlement colonies of Delhi,where the working class was dumped to make the city glisten.

Across the road,French retailer Carrefour SA has opened its first store housing 30,000 brands. Like the builders,it too turned to these neighbourhoods. It sent its people into slums and unauthorised colonies,looking for kirana store owners to secure a clientele. Its glass building stands out among the hundreds of single-brick structures along the Metro line and the river.

“There are all these manufacturing units and home-based industries. Every household is a unit where women work. In unauthorised colonies,one can buy a 100-sq yard plot for Rs 25 lakh,” local MLA Matin Ahmed said. “If we count all people,include those that have no ration cards,New Seelampur will have at least two lakh residents.”

“How do we stop this? The Census hasn’t accounted for those who work in the factories. This is where the employment is. How do we widen roads? How do we improve basic amenities? The conditions are worse in unauthorised colonies like Jafrabad where almost no roads exist. This attracts builders. They have constructed 15-square yard flats. We all know how the police act. There is no code,no law.”

Nostalgia gives way to anger,frustration when Ahmed talks about life in the area — of boys dropping out of schools,getting involved in petty crimes,and forcing girls to remain indoors for fear of molestation.

The Northeast district is an accident of geography. There is the Yamuna in the west,Ghaziabad to the north and east,East Delhi to the south,and North Delhi in the west across the Yamuna. Its three important administrative subdivisions are Seelampur,Seemapuri and Shahdara.

As per the 2001 Census,the district’s population was 17,63,712 and the density was 29,397 persons per sq km. Spread over 60 km,the district has also been identified as a minority concentration district by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Over the last decade,the area absorbed a large number of migrants to the Capital. Close to the South and Central districts,this is where most migrants came to settle over the years,finding their foot in these clusters where they could find cheap accommodation.

With almost no regulation and no planning,the resettlement colonies,mostly the allotments and unauthorised slums like Sonia Vihar and JJ Colony,developed in a haphazard way.

In plots as small as 12 or 20 square yards,owners have built three-storey and in a few cases,five-storey,buildings. The plots that were allotted by the government to resettle thousands of migrants in the 1960s ranged from 80 to 25 square yards and were later sold to new settlers in parts.

The one things that hasn’t changed over the years is the demographics. The colony has remained poor. Only the working class lives here. A few jeans and shoes manufacturing units are scattered in its lanes,anchoring many of its women and migrant settlers.

“Because it was so close to Central Delhi,this became the destination for the poor who could walk or cycle to their work sites,” Kumar said. “Builders have come to this part in the last three years. They are buying the small plots,constructing flats and selling them to the poor who also want some ownership in the city.”

Mohd Sharif Ali built two extra floors of one room each on his plot to rent them out. Rent is a survival factor. “We get Rs 2,000 as rent for the second floor. It helps,” he said. “But I remember there was a time when the colony was not so crowded. We had open grounds.”