Do you know how Ghaffar Manzil got its name?
For residents living in Okhla, Ghaffar Manzil is a known place and needs no introduction. However, residents are always willing to know the history of Ghaffar Manzil located close by or at the back of Jamia Millia Islamia.
It is understood that the area grew as Jamia grew.
“It all started in the 30s when there were only three houses. It gradually developed over a period of time. And grew in 80s,” said independent journalist Bilal Zaidi, a resident of Ghaffar Manzil, whose family has been living for years since the beginning with his grandfather even establishing Imam Bara here in 1951.
Initially families came from Haryana and Farrakhabad in Uttar Pradesh. When there were only a few houses, there was a Jamia teacher by the name Abdul Ghaffor Madholi who used to stay in the vicinity very close by Jamia.
“It is talked in the locality that he probably took some loan from Jamia and as he could not pay he handed the land to Jamia and the university named his house as Ghaffar Manzil,” said Zaidi.
The OT was unable to verify this fact independently.
And since then the area came to be known as Ghaffar Manzil.
Years ago the entry to Ghaffar Manzil was through Dr Ansari Auditorium. But later on Jamia won the case and the route was changed which now is from the back of university’s administrative office.
Another Ghaffar Manzil resident Tahreema Ahmed told the OT over phone that the history of the locality where she came for the first time in January 1993 is very old.
There used to be a few houses and among them Mustafa lodge and Akhtar Manzil were the oldest. After some people migrated to Pakistan, new residents came in. Then there was a house named Ghaffar Manzil after the owner of his house. He gave his whole land free to some and migrated to Pakistan,” said Ahmed.
