Delhi will not come to an end by October 2010, but the approach has been such. Jab shaadi hoti hai to aap pure ghar ko sajaate hain, paint-polish karte hain, lighten lagate hain. Bilkul wohi approach hai.?
Poetic this may not be, heartfelt it is. This is the president of the New Delhi Traders? Association, bemoaning the state of what was once the ornament, the heart of the city. Atul Bhargava says that given the constant complaints, he has become almost a telephone operator ever since the project started.
Connaught Place, CP to most, was once, a short age ago, the pride of a newly independent nation, a place where the denizens of a city at once old and new gathered to intermingle and celebrate that hope. ?Connaught Place is a brilliant piece of architecture,? says Pramod Kapoor, publisher, Roli Books. ?There are so many marketplaces in India but there is nothing as majestic as CP. If you look at the history of any city, you know how the evolution of a city revolves around its centre, just the way it was in Europe when the Centrum became the hub of power. CP signifies the same for Delhi,? he says.
It?s gone paan-stained, its tresses ruffled by illegal constructions, its wings overburdened by traffic, no paramour interested in her any more, today CP is struggling to maintain it?s sang froid. The first decade of this century has not been kind to the historic centre of Delhi. The construction of the metro saw extensive digging, driving many but the most ardent fans away for about three years. And just as the shopkeepers were beginning to hope for better times came the curse of the Commonwealth Games. CP?just about no one except those new to the city use the monikers Rajiv Chowk or Indira Chowk?should have welcomed a restoration it was badly in need of.
There should have been hardly any confusion on whether it is a heritage zone or not. But that itself has led to confusion and a continuous blame game between the various agencies charged with its upkeep.
?The restoration of Connaught Place is more of a beautification drive than a restoration project,? says AGK Menon, Convenor (Delhi Chapter), INTACH. ?There are different parameters for restoration that have been ignored in this case. The flooring, for example, has been a constant issue? whether to use sandstone or granite. ?By using granite, CP will look good, but whether it will be authentic or not is another question,? adds Menon. He points out that when any area is designated as a heritage site, restoration requires the use of original material in construction.
The entire focus seems to be building Delhi as a world-class city before the Commonwealth Games and in the process, the core values of restoration are distorted, points out Menon. ?CP is a heritage site and should be respected and treated in the same vein. INTACH listed CP as a heritage site in 2000 and NDMC declared it as such only in 2010. We have lost a lot time in the process and now a lot of compromise is being made in the name of restoration, just to meet the deadline,? he adds.
NDMC, the civic authority responsible for its upkeep, has realised that it is going to be impossible to go in for a complete restoration before the start of the CWG. As a result, what is being undertaken is the fa?ade restoration of Connaught Place. NDMC has undertaken a ?redevelopment? of CP under the Urban Renewal & Heritage Conservation scheme under JNNURM, approved by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee, MoUD, for an approved cost of Rs 253.78 crore, with Additional Central Assistance (ACA) commitment of Rs 88.82 crore. ?The re-development of Connaught Place aims to create a memorable experience for every visitor by way restoration of fa?ade, disciplining graphics, creation of safe and organised pedestrian and vehicular movement and relaying engineering service in designated corridors so that in the future no digging is required in Connaught Place,? says Anand Tiwari, director, Public Relations, NDMC.
This will still leave a number of issues unresolved, including building of underground service ducts, improvement of existing subways and construction of new subways, an underground utility corridor, escalators, rainwater harvesting and irrigation system, construction of underground parking spaces and a new traffic circulation plan. Rs 671 crore has been sanctioned as the entire cost of redevelopment, to be completed in three years.
Meanwhile, commerce, a mainstay of this erstwhile CBD, has taken a hit. ?Retail commerce is hit by 75% and this could have been avoided if things were done in a systematic manner,? says KT Ravindran, Delhi Urban Art Council (DUAC) chairman. DUAC has been at loggerheads with NDMC over the proposed changes and the dispute?s tenor has sharpened as the redevelopment work gets underway. ?We have completed the C-Block inspection and suggested a few changes,? he says. ?As NDMC is in a hurry to meet the deadline, not sufficient time is given for the cement to settle and cure, causing flakes.? He says the restoration of the fa?ade has been overdue and even more important now as the first view for many emerging from the underground metro station needs to be a grand one.
The shopkeepers, meanwhile, are a desperate lot. Bhargava plays it rather safe by saying business is down by just 20%. ?All this work was much required, but it?s happening a bit too late,? he laments. ?There is an ego hassle between the NDMC and the DUAC, which is delaying matters. There is a mix up between heritage and commerce, renovation and restoration, and the traders are suffering in the process. In the original structure limestone was used, but now cement is being used. The original structure lasted for 75 years, but going the way the restorers are working, I wonder if this will last out for even 50 years.?
Bhargava knows of three projects ? the front fa?ade is expected to finish by June 30. The Middle Circle project which also includes the tunnel, is expected to finish by September, and the Subway project, which includes four new ones besides redoing five old subways, is also underway. ?I am keeping my fingers crossed that they meet the deadline.? At least in the name of the Games, infrastructure development is happening, says Bhargava. ?Sometimes the government is taking the stakeholders into confidence and most times it is not. But they have to keep in mind that CP is first a commercial centre and then a heritage site ?it?s not just for the tourists.?
The debate between commerce and culture is becoming an either/or situation, which it needn?t be. Numerous cities across the world have simultaneously preserved their unique older quarters as living heritage zones, including Jaipur, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and many others. Traders in the area fear that a stress on heritage might impact their business. A C-Block trader, who refused to be named, points out that renovation in the block was completed a year and a half back, and C-Block was named as the model block, but now there are problems again with digging in the block. ?Entry roads are dug up; footfalls have gone down. Earlier, we were promised that work would be complete in six months, but it has already lasted for a year and a half,? he says.
However, 82-year-old Prakash Nath Khanna, of Loke Nath & Co in A-Block, who were one of the first ones set shop in CP, is optimistic that the difficulty is just for a short while. ?CP is the biggest bazaar but owing to digging, it?s limited to tourists, as only tourists bother coming here any more.? But keeping in view the future of business, it is a good move, he thinks.
Between the debate of the dukandars and the culture vultures, what has suffered immensely over the years is CP. Irreplaceable, its future looks even more uncertain as those vested with the authority to decide its future only seem to be able to look at their particular pillar, ignoring the wonderful synthesis Connaught Place has stood for in its heyday.