Long road to redemption
The seed was sown 23 years ago. The project remained at the conceptual stage for a long time after that. Once work started, things kept getting tied up in knots. It took a series of court orders, formation of committees, appointment of nodal officers, a lot of hard work and a long time for the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project to see the light of the day. The process of pedestrianisation of the 17th century heritage shopping arcade designed by Mughal princess Jahanara is complete. If all goes well, it will be inaugurated soon. Alongside old trees, new saplings have been planted.
Special care has been taken to grow ornamental shrubs. The project to decongest this historical stretch has also seen an upgrade of the fire-fighting mechanism, creation of specific zones to load and unload goods and rehabilitation of the old drainage system. It promises to be a pleasant experience for pedestrians, with no vehicular movement on Chandni Chowk Road from 9 am to 9pm. But it has taken time.
In May 2013, a division bench of the Delhi High Court noted that ‘exclusive’ non-motorised vehicle (NMV) lanes for cycle rickshaws on Chandni Chowk Road was imperative. Judges directed authorities to implement the plan for the redevelopment and decongestion of the 1.3 km stretch from Red Fort crossing to Fatehpuri mosque. However, nothing moved on the ground for two and-a-half years. When the judges were informed that the plan got stuck due to lack of coordination among agencies, they asked all stake-holders associated with the project including Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC), Delhi Police, power discoms and Northern Railways to appoint nodal officers for seamless coordination.
The appointment of point persons have been hailed as a breakthrough in implementing the plan. “In two months after the appointment of nodal officers, encroachments were removed from Chandni Chowk and in the next two-three months, traffic management plan for the entire Walled City was ready. Basically, work expedited with SRDC serving as a project management agency. Sustained consultations were held with traders and market associations. Finally, the project started in December 2018,” said a senior Delhi government official.
An achievement for SRDC
Completion of the long-pending project is an achievement for SRDC, which took over the project from the Public Work Department (PWD), following the court’s intervention. SRDC is a special purpose body created in 2008, to revitalise the Walled City. It was virtually a defunct body in the absence of adequate workforce and funding when it was entrusted with the responsibility. “It had only been organising heritage walks and taking up conservation of heritage structures.
That, too, outside the Walled City area. The agency, nevertheless, managed to pull it off despite constraints,” said the official. SRDC is still a team of just nine staff and officials including Managing Director Garima Gupta, General Manager Pravesh R Jha and Deputy General Manager (Project and Administration) Nitin Panigrahi. At one point, the government did not seem too keen. Satyendar Jain, PWD minister, even suggested dissolving the SRDC.
However, support from a group of women bureaucrats including Gupta, who were in charge of significant departments in the Delhi government, and noted architect Pradeep Sachdeva, acted as a catalyst. Manisha Saxena was secretary of the urban development department at that time. The North DMC was led by Varsha Joshi and Deputy Commissioner of City (Sadar Paharganj Zone) was Ruchika Katyal. Nidhi Srivastava was District Magistrate (Central Zone). They stood their ground and ensured approvals were granted in a time-bound manner.
The court appointed chief nodal officer Renu Sharma, who is addition secretary (urban development department) resolved contentious issues with her active participations and convened nearly 50 meetings.
Once both carriageways of Chandni Chowk are reopened, no vehicular traffic will be permitted on the road from 9 am to 9 pm. Besides refurbishment of the central verge and shifting of overhead cables underground, separate corridors have been created for pedestrians and cycle rickshaws. The SRDC has plans to extend the 12-hour restriction on motorised vehicles to the lanes connecting the heritage market with other parts of Old Delhi by barricading entry points.
Sanjay Bhargava, president of Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal (CCSVM), said it is a big victory for the trader community of the area, which has been fighting for the cause since the beginning. “We have been making representations before the authorities and the court for the development of the market for a long time. We suggested to former Chief Minister Sheila Diskhit to set up a separate agency for the Chandni Chowk improvement plan. Eventually, she formed SRDC,” said Bhargava.
Hope for Shahjahanabad
With Chandni Chowk’s turnaround, hopes for revitalisation of the Walled City also known as Shahjahanabad have renewed. The PWD has initiated a tendering process to appoint an architect consultant for the development of the ‘heritage corridor’ from Dilli Gate crossing to Kashmere Gate and redevelopment of the Jama Masjid precinct. After two previous failed attempts since 2004, the authorities are hoping to give the area a facelift without encountering any hiccups and clear the urban mess around Jama Masjid.
Under the second phase of the Chandni Chowk Road project, SRDC will take up façade restoration of heritage buildings along the boulevard and revitalisation of lanes of the Walled City including Nai Sadak, Ballimaran Road, Chawri Bazaar, Charkhewalan, Gali Qasim Jaan, Rodgran, and Farash Khana. PWD minister Jain had already announced that the government would soon start rejuvenation of internal lanes or roads of Old Delhi on the lines of the Chandni Chowk project.
23 years in the making
The project to restore Chandni Chowk’s lost glory was first envisaged in 1998. A formal proposal was prepared in 2002-03, which was cleared by then Delhi Chief Secretary S Regunathan in 2005. However, the project remained only on paper till 2010 when the court decided to take it upon itself to implement and supervise the project for which the initial plan was prepared and approved by Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning and engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) and Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC). The MCD had also made its own plan.
Both the plans were put on the back burner and eventually lost their significance. The UTTIPEC in August 2018 endorsed the fresh plan drawn up by Sachdeva, which is being implemented. On completion of the project, Jagdish Mamgain, former chairman of the works committee (unified MCD), said he had been supporting pedestrianisation of the markets since the beginning.
BRIEF HISTORY OF PROJECT
1998 Project to restore Chandni Chowk’s lost glory first discussed
2002-03 Proposal prepared, based on study by Central Road Research Institute
July 2005 Proposal cleared by Chief Secretary S Regunathan
2007 Erstwhile unified MCD asked to draft redevelopment proposal for Shahjahanabad
June 2008 SRDC comes to existence
Dec 2011 Delhi government takes over project from MCD. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal inaugurates the project
August 2012 Delhi govt approves longpending redevelopment plans for Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid precinct, to be implemented by PWD
Feb 2013 Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit reviews project and directs speeding up of work. PWD changes design of lights and pavements
June 2013 Modified plan for redevelopment of Chandni Chowk approved by planning body UTTIPEC
June 2015 SRDC decides to fast-track project
August 2015 Deputy CM Manish Sisodia visits area and announces trams will be reintroduced. Idea was shelved later
Feb 2016 Delhi HC orders appointment of nodal officers. Nitin Panigrahi, DGM (Project & Administration) of SRDC, appointed nodal officer for the project
2018 UTTIPEC clears plan to ban movement of vehicles on the road from 9am to 9pm
Dec 2018 Sisodia lays foundation. March 2020 set as project deadline
SRDC could not meet the deadline. Work stopped in October 2019 because of ban on construction
activities imposed by the National Green Tribunal. Covid-19 further delayed the project. April 31, 2021, is the revised deadline.
- Authorities have retained 90 old and fully-grown trees along the 1.3 km stretch except for one peepal, which was relocated
- To enhance the green aesthetic, about 170 new saplings of amaltas (flowering plant with medicinal properties) and moulsaris (evergreen, shade-giving tree) have also been planted along both carriageways
- Provisions have been made for lay-by zones (reserved-paved area) for emergency, police patrol and service vehicles. Nine dedicated zones have been created for loading and unloading of goods
- Skyline is clearer. All utility cables such as power, telephone, and cable television have been shifted underground
- To prevent waterlogging, network of stormwater drain has been rehabilitated. Old sewerage system has been fixed. Over 50 benches made of stone and 100 dustbins have been placed
- 75 watt LED streetlights will be installed for better illumination
- Toilet blocks at four locations Red Fort crossing, Bhagirath Palace, HC Sen Marg near Phuwwara Chowk and Townhall. Previously, women visitors and tourists would face inconvenience due to absence of clean and safe public toilets
- Free public transport service electric vehicles such as golf carts or trambus especially for the elderly and disabled will be available
Heritage Boulevard is greener, with ornamental and flowering shrubs and trees. The central verge has mainly four varieties of groundcover wedelia (bears yellow flowers), duranta golden (large, broad leaves), tradescantia (easy and fast-growing) and nerium oleander (tough, long-flowering, ornamental shrub)
Rs 99 crCost of project (initial estimate was Rs 68 crore)
The central verge is at a place where the canal ran through the avenue till 1910, before trams were introduced in Chandni Chowk.
18 power transformers are on the central verge, which are 3.5 meters wide. Earlier, they were on the pavement, and would pose threat to pedestrians
150 CCTV In addition to nearly 150 CCTV cameras, one Automatic Number Plate Recognition machine will be installed to monitor 12-hour restriction on motor vehicles
After a series of delays and interruptions, the much-awaited overhaul of the historic Chandni Chowk Road has been completed. Epicentre of the Mughal capital set up by Shahjahan, this stretch has received a major facelift and is expected to be opened soon. Parvez Sultan traces the long journey of this redevelopment project, the problems it faced and how they were solved…