Ground Zero: sceptics hope

8220;I have performed for George and Laura Bush, Kapil Dev...8221; 10-year-old Kiran rattles off the illustrious list. A folk dancer and one of the many talented artistes living in Kathputli colony, she is clearly oblivious to the open drains and rats running amok as she performs her routine for Newsline.

8220;I have performed for George and Laura Bush, Kapil Dev8230;8221; 10-year-old Kiran rattles off the illustrious list. A folk dancer and one of the many talented artistes living in Kathputli colony, she is clearly oblivious to the open drains and rats running amok as she performs her routine for Newsline. She is also oblivious to the fact that Kathputli Colony has been selected as one of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters that will undergo redevelopment under Delhi Development Authority8217;s in-situ slum rehabilitation project.

A couple of weeks back, the Delhi Development Authority had announced that it has identified 21 clusters in the Capital where multi-storey buildings will come up in the place of the jhuggis in an effort to rehabilitate slum-dwellers.

Kathputli Colony, located under the Shadipur Depot bridge, will be one of the first colonies to benefit from this project, with construction slated to begin by December.

8220;You had best ask Begum Aunty about it,8221; is the standard response received from almost anyone in the colony when asked about their take on the DDA project. 8220;Begum Aunty8221; as it turns out, is 43-year-old Sultana Begum, the local area representative of Kathputli Colony.

Her response to Newsline8217;s queries on the project, is however, cautious. 8220;I am aware of the slum rehabilitation project 8212; I read the details in today8217;s papers. Sheila Dikshit had come to the Colony six months ago and had announced that something of this sort was being planned. Let8217;s see what comes of it,8221; says Begum.

In 2002, the government had rehabilitated a few families from the colony to Vikas Puri. Within a matter of few days, however, they were back. With the memory of the earlier fiasco still in their minds, the colony residents who are aware of the project are choosing not to get too excited about it.

8220;There are close to 10,000 families who live here. Most are artistes who come from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Many NGOs have set up shop close by and help these artists in finding work. All prior efforts to rehabilitate the colony residents, since it was set up after Independence, has failed. This project might work, but where are they going to send the residents during construction?8221; asks K L Gupta, who runs a small kiosk in the Colony.