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Delhi based NGO and its project office located in Agra. Its initial project being Cross-cutting Agra Project (CAP) in which a village older than Taj called Kachhpura was developed and promoted as a heritage village which today acts as one of the important tourist attraction element in the Taj city.
The current project is City wide Slum Upgrading Project (CUSP) in which I was thoroughly involved during my training period. In this project I was involved in understanding the conditions of the slums through field visits, interaction with local dwellers and observations. I was also involved in designing various spaces for selected communities. List of works: The following are the list of works I was involved during my training period. Report on housing typologies in Agra Report on Bhim Nagri project Renovation of a cottage in Nainital Walkthrough for Kalyanpuri project Barara village tourism
Kachhpura heritage village tourism Housing designs for old city area, Agra Proposals for DPR Road pavement design in Delhi Base model for DEWAT Visits to Heritage places in and around Agra 1. Report on housing typologies in Agra: The Agra city is divided into six zones based on the various factors like the major occupation of the slum dwellers, time period of origin of slums and its location. The zones are: Trans Yamuna – Areas beyond the other opposite bank Taj ganj – Historic settlement Old city – Historic commercial hub Kheria – Around the defense zone Sikandra – Along the city fringes Bodla – Recently developed area
Under each of these zones, field visits were made to few selected slums. A study of exisisting housing conditions, space layouts, materials & technologies used so far and the requirements in demand through interaction with local dwellers were made. Based on the collected data a report was prepared which gives an idea about the overall housing condition in the Agra city. Through this assignment a detailed knowledge about the housing typologies was achieved. 2. Report on Bhim Nagri project: Bhim Nagri was a project started by the followers of Dr. Bhimarao Ambedkar and later on promoted by the government of U.
P. The main goal of this project is to improve the living conditions of the scheduled caste people. This project was started in Agra, which majorly contains scheduled caste people in its population. Field visit to the slums which benefited from the Bhim nagri project was made. The advantages and the disadvantages of the projects implemented through this scheme were listed out through serious observation on the areas and interaction with local dwellers. A report was prepared based on the collected data, listing out the areas included, projects implemented and the resulted advantages and isadvantages. Through this assignment the scale of community level expectations and needs were understood. 3. Renovation of a cottage in Nainital: An old cottage building which is in located in the compound of an existing hotel, Hotel Deodar, in Nainital is to be converted into a part of the hotel. It’s a century structure with load bearing walls of various thicknesses. Unique walls with thickness up to 1. 2m were found. By retaining the existing old walls as much as possible and by adding new walls based on necessity, a cottage with seven rooms was designed.
Through this project, an idea about the building methods in hill stations was obtained, especially the pitched roof types and the attic designs. An overall idea about the work progress in designing while retaining an old structure is obtained. 4. Walkthrough for Kalyanpuri project: A resettlement for two slums, in Delhi, was designed and proposed by CURE. A multi-storied housing was proposed which incorporated various green techniques to sustain its surroundings. A detailed walk through was made to show the salient features of the proposal. 5. Barara village tourism:
Barara, a village with scenic beauty located 28 kilometers from Agra was selected by UP tourism department to be made as a tourism village. A proposal was to be given, which should include the basic necessary improvement in the village and a trail for tourists to follow, which will include all the areas that displays the significant activities of the village. A one day field visit to the village was made and a short documentation was done. Based on the documentation, a short trail and a long trail was decided which would showcase the daily activities and the beauty of the village.
Deciding important focal points and weighing the importance of each aspect to make the trail crisp and interesting gave an idea about deciding what is necessary for the given requirement. 6. Housing designs for old city area, Agra: Based on the study made for the housing report, the housing designs were prepared for the old city area. Due to scarcity of land availability, so many restrictions were imposed on the design, like, a house surrounded by other buildings on all the three sides allowing ventilation only through the facade, which required space efficiency.
The design was made for worst case scenario like least available land size. Making design options with minimum freedom improved the ideas for incorporating space efficiency in designs. 7. Proposals for DPR: A detailed project report for upgrading the selected 15 slums of Tajganj area was to be prepared. In this project, an opportunity to design community center, community toilet, renovation of an old well and preparing estimations for the designs were given. The process of preparing estimation helped a great deal in understanding the materials involved in construction in a detailed manner. . Road pavement design in Delhi: A street elevation was redesigned in a slum to improve the spirits of the dwellers in community participation. In the process, a part of the road in the street stretch was redesigned in such a way that the road would allow the children to learn and play. Games were installed in the road with the help of colored paver blocks. 9. Base model for DEWAT: Decentralized WAste water Treatment plant (DEWAT) is a drain water treatment plant, which was initiated in Agra by CURE. This plant is running successfully in Kachhpura with a withholding capacity of 50Kl.
A model for this treatment plant was to be made in order to make it easy to explain its working progress. Through the process of making model, the working method and the efficiency of this green technology is understood very well. 10. Visits to Heritage places in and around Agra: There is always more than that meets the eye. In such a way, there are more significant places in and around Agra, other than the Taj mahal. A list of places like Sikandra, Idmad-ud-daula, Chini ka Rauza, Ram bagh etc… inside Agra, Vrindavan and Govardan of Mathura, Deeg and Bharathpur of Rajasthan and Gwalior in Madyapradesh were visited.
We were also taken to the capital city Delhi and the concrete jungle Gurgaon. These visits were greatly encouraged during my training period by our chiefs. Conclusion: A wide range of works were covered during this period and I was given freedom in the way of approach towards the assigned project. I was able to obtain quite some knowledge about the tricks involved in managing and executing city level wide projects. Having worked in a NGO, associated in government projects and working from the inside of a government administration office itself provided with an entirely new great experience.
Apart from working from office, exploring the narrow gallis of Agra by walking and interacting with the local people and living as an insider for five months, gave an excellent knowledge about the local culture and life style of people which was entirely different from the culture I know. As a whole this training was a combination of freedom, adventure, fun and knowledge and I would like to thank CURE administration and my friends from office for their immense support throughout.