Generations Uprooted: Demolition of Delhi's Yamuna Bazar Colony Leaves 310 Families Homeless and Livelihoods in Ruins

New Delhi:

Around 310 families have been rendered homeless after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) carried out a demolition drive in the Yamuna Bazar area. The authority classified the settlement as part of the protected floodplain of the Yamuna River, designated as an "O-Zone," where construction is prohibited. The demolition was conducted in compliance with directions issued by the National Green Tribunal.

A notice dated June 23 informed residents of Yamuna Bazar Riverbank Areas No. 2 to 32 that, under the tribunal's directions, all forms of encroachment on the Yamuna floodplain falling under the jurisdiction of the DDA were to be removed.

For the displaced families, however, the legal justification has provided little relief. Many are now living under the open sky after losing both their homes and their means of earning a livelihood.

Most of the affected residents belong to communities of priests, boat operators, barbers, and flower garland makers who served worshippers visiting the riverbanks. Many of their ancestors migrated from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with several families now in their fifth or sixth generation at these locations. Their occupations were inseparable from the riverbanks and were sustained through the traditional hereditary patronage system, under which service providers and the families they served maintained relationships across generations at a specific place.

Gauri Shankar, a resident of Riverbank Area No. 24, said his family had been performing religious ceremonies at the site since the British colonial period. He expressed concern that the riverbanks would now fall silent, with no priests, boat operators, or barbers available to assist people arriving to perform religious rituals.

Several residents alleged that they were not given adequate time to remove their belongings before the demolition began.

Manish, a member of the barber community, said they had no intention of resorting to begging and that his family had been living there since 2005. He stated that the house had been built through years of hard work, only to be demolished within days, leaving them homeless.

Ganesh Pandit, who spent his entire life on the riverbanks, said he had grown up there and completed his education in the area. He explained that pilgrims from Haryana and distant regions visited them to perform religious ceremonies and that his family had maintained genealogical records of their ancestors for generations. While they were still permitted to perform religious rituals, he questioned how they were expected to secure rented accommodation elsewhere.

Among the worst affected are elderly residents in their seventies and eighties who spent their entire lives at these riverbanks. Liladhar and Prabhu Dayal were seen loading their remaining belongings onto cycle rickshaws without knowing where they would go next.

No alternative housing or rehabilitation has been provided to any of the displaced families. Elderly residents, women, and young children remain without shelter as the city faces intense summer heat and seasonal rainfall.

Rajrani, a 66-year-old woman currently staying inside a nearby temple, said she possessed documents dating back to 1905 but was still left without a home. She also claimed that the administration had instructed local people not to provide shelter to those who had been evicted. Despite her own circumstances, she distributed food and drinking water to displaced children and families during the Nirjala Ekadashi observance, saying it was the right thing to do.

The demolition was carried out under legally established floodplain protection regulations and in accordance with the National Green Tribunal's directives. Authorities maintain that settlements within flood-prone areas pose significant environmental and public safety risks. However, residents pointed to what they described as a painful irony, saying they had always been the first to suffer whenever the Yamuna River flooded and had now become the first to lose everything during the clearance operation.

Beginning a new life elsewhere is especially difficult for families whose occupations depended entirely on the specific riverbanks and the generations of pilgrims they served there. As hundreds remain without homes, livelihoods, or rehabilitation, the displaced families continue to ask Delhi's authorities one unanswered question: where are they expected to go, and how are they supposed to rebuild their lives?