Rehabilitation of traditional Gadia Lohar, Black Smith community; a case of Azadpur, Delhi

Abstract

Gadia Lohar Community is a traditional blacksmith community comprising of about 140 families in Azadpur, Delhi. The community is known for manufacturing of small scale iron products mainly agricultural tools and utensils, and other repairing works. Their forefather was in the army of raja Maharanpratap of Chittor. They took several oths and sacrifise their homeland when Chittor falls for Mughas in the battle of Haldighati. Aside of such scarifies the community in present day lives in adverse conditions and is facing economy crisis due to modernisation and machine made tools overtaking their handmade work. Being nomadic they don‟t own any land parcel due which they struggle for permanent homes and lives under fear of eviction. Currently the community was recognised under the JJ list of survey done by DUSIB, which offers them a permanent land to settle that can be redevelopment or relocation within 5km of radius. The scheme for once, may provide the community with better shelter than the ones they were residing in, but is not completely satisfactory because of various reasons like, inadequate floor area as per family size, poor quality of community spaces, no provision for occupation, these are few of the many unmentioned aspects that hamper the day-to-day life, especially when coupled with the poor economy generation of these people. The situation thus calls for an upgraded housing model which looks beyond just the provision of shelter and also deals with the economic aspect. A site was chosen, with the help of community and authorities that has a potential of sustaining on its own when designed with proper infrastructure to cater and improve the occupation, skills and living conditions of the settlement, respectively, thus making the residents self-sufficient. This project aims to give identity to this forgotten community by providing a livelihood centric housing scheme, which along with providing shelter, will also ensure economic stability of the residents, promoting self-sustainability and making the residents self-sufficient both socially and financially.