Why did the Kumartuli Urban Renewal Project fail?

It was approved in Feb 2007, intended to be executed within 2 years.

It was cancelled in 2016.

They spent 5.79 crores on it.

Features:

• multistory building on 3.22 acre plot.

• community work space

• exhibition and sale complex

• meant for mritshilpi, sholashilpi and saajshilpi

• for 528 families

• relocated them temporarily to warehouses near kumortuli

  • 200 dwellings and 104 work units

  • 170 dwellings and 79 work units allotted in 2010

2014 -> some artisans had refused to move. some homes were already demolished so the ones that moved could not return.

The land is under the Thika Tenancy Act.

• Definition: A "thika tenant" is someone who occupies land under a written or oral lease, paying rent to a landlord, and has built their own structure for residential or business purposes.

• Acquisition: The 2001 Act transferred the land interests of landlords to the State of West Bengal.

• "Bharatia": These are tenants who rent the structures built by the "thika tenant".

• Purpose: The Act aims to manage bustees (slums) and similar areas, allowing the government to regulate, develop, or allow for better land usage, preventing arbitrary eviction by middlemen.

• Applicability: Primarily applicable to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation areas. 

In Kolkata as of 2025

• bustees/slums declared as thika land.

• no one but the government can own this land but developers are still allowed to construct multi-storey buildings here.

Contesting Spaces of Urban Renewal Project: Rishika Mukhopadhyay

What the Interviews Revealed

• The ethnographic interviews are the heart of the chapter, revealing what official narratives ignored.

• a. Trauma of Displacement

  • Nimai Pal, who volunteered for the first demolition, describes watching his ancestral home destroyed:

“Our family has been staying in that house for four generations… Seeing that getting bulldozed in front of your eyes is painful.”

This shows displacement as emotional and intergenerational loss.

Loss of Street Life and Sensory Ecology

Artists who were relocated acknowledged better physical protection but mourned the loss of:

Sun-drying idols

Street interaction

Collective rhythms of work

Asit Mukherjee notes:

“Here we are dependent on fans… Our electricity bills are huge. We constantly miss the vibrant activity of Kumartuli streets.”

This shows how environmental and spatial conditions are integral to craft practices.

Fear of Losing Identity and Visibility

Sunil Pal expresses anxiety about modernization erasing their distinctiveness:

“The hardship, struggle and darkness of our lives have made us extraordinary… I don’t think these shops will have any place after renovation.”

Modernization threatens not only labor conditions but global recognition, tourism, and cultural authenticity