Homes crumbling under weight of dreams

Ona crisp November afternoon in 1990, the living room of a modest two-bedroom flat in Mayur Vihar Phase I was transformed into a makeshift wedding hall. Neighbours strung marigold garlands across the ceiling, plated laddoos were distributed on borrowed trays, and people hummed film songs while waiting for the bride to appear.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok and Jignasa Sinha

The bride on that day, Sunita Kapoor, now 62, remembers the scene vividly.

“It was not grand, but it was the kind of warmth small gatherings of close friends and families brought. Everyone pitched in - someone lent us lights, someone brought extra chairs,” she recalled, seated in the same flat more than three decades later, where she now lives with her elderly mother.

The house was the pride of her family. Her father bought it in 1981 for just over ₹60,000, four years after it was constructed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Since then, it has become more than an address: it was the backdrop to Sunita’s childhood, her marriage, and her children’s memories of “nani ka ghar”.

“This house has seen every version of me — daughter, bride, mother, and now someone starting afresh. I've lived in several other houses too, but nothing quite matches up,” said Kapoor.

Across Delhi, thousands of families have similar stories in similar flats.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, flats made by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) symbolised a new promise for middle-class Indians: the first wave of affordable, planned housing in a city that was only beginning its population surge. But half a century later, these buildings ~ once the bedrock of Delhi's housing story ~ are creaking under the weight of time.

The paint has dulled, staircases cracked, drains clogged, and damp has crept into the walls. Windows cling to rusted hinges, and pipes leak in brown streaks down facades. The dream is now visibly decaying.

On June 12, HT reported that a government-industry task force recommended that all DDA colonies over 50 years old - this covers at least 30 neighbourhoods ~ may need to be reconstructed to ensure safety. Thousands of families could be displaced, if only temporarily. Not everyone is convinced.

How DDA reimagined Delhi