Yamuna Bazar Residents Scour Demolition Debris to Salvage Possessions
Former residents of the Yamuna Bazar Ghat area on the Yamuna floodplain returned to the site of their demolished homes on Sunday to search through the rain-soaked debris for their remaining belongings and scrap metal. The activity followed a major demolition drive carried out by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in June, which displaced approximately 310 families from the centuries-old settlement.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had issued eviction notices to the families in May. Officials described the settlement as an "illegal encroachment" on the Yamuna floodplain's O-Zone, citing the recurring risk of flooding as the primary reason for the clearance. The DDA subsequently razed all residential structures, sparing only a few historically significant buildings, including several temples.
On Sunday, over 20 people returned to the site after being informed that authorities had granted them a one-day window to recover their possessions. Many residents hired scrap dealers to salvage valuable materials like iron grills and wooden ceiling beams to raise money.
For many displaced residents, identifying the exact spots where their homes once stood proved difficult. Rani, a 31-year-old mother of three who now rents a small room in Shahdara’s Kartar Nagar, returned to the site at 8 a.m. She managed to salvage two iron door grills, which she sold to a scrap dealer for Rs 2,000. Rani and her husband previously ran a flower shop in the area but lost their livelihood due to the eviction.
Another former resident, 40-year-old Kamla Kumari, recovered iron grilles and wooden ceiling beams with the help of a scrap dealer, earning Rs 4,000. Kumari, a widow who now lives with her seven-member family in Burari, expressed concern over managing her family's expenses. She recently paid Rs 12,000 in annual fees to enroll her son in a private school, while her two daughters attend government schools in Civil Lines. With their current rent at Rs 9,000, Kumari noted that the money from the scrap sale would only help them survive for a few days while she searches for employment.
