<p>The impressive Georgian heritage buildings around Connaught Place (CP) are something Delhi is rightly proud of. CP was developed as a showpiece by Lutyen in the late 1920s and early 1930s and is at the hub of New Delhi’s business district. These days, it is overlooked by various modern, high-rise office blocks.<br /><br />In theory, CP should be what the Champs Elysees is to Paris -- the capital’s jewel in the crown. In reality, it’s not. How many times have I passed through the covered walkways and thought about what CP could be like?<br /><br />Just imagine, no rain stained buildings or flaking plaster, just gleaming white facades and colonnades. No, cracked, uneven paving, just shiny, smooth tiling. No corrosion or filth, just well maintained and clean environment. And no ugly advertising hoardings, which throughout the country serve to uglify even the grandest of buildings.<br /><br />Just imagine a CP with proper signage, instead of the confusion we now have. I have lost count of the number of times I have literally walked around in circles trying to find a particular road or establishment. And just imagine marked crossings for pedestrians.<br />What we have instead is the multi-lane racetrack of the ‘outer circle’ with blasting horns and noisy, fume-belching traffic that has total disregard for the pedestrian. Of course, this is not unique to CP. <br /><br />It’s the ‘India-way’. And what pedestrians don’t need is to be intimidated by encroaching vehicles at traffic lights where pedestrians are allowed to cross (that is if they can get up a steady gallop before the traffic roars into action again). Imagine properly marked pelican crossings and traffic police who actually managed traffic.<br /><br />I once travelled straight from India to Canada, where the biggest culture shock was road etiquette. In Canada, they must have the politest traffic in the world. Even where there are no pelican crossing on the smaller roads, traffic actually slows down and gives right of way to the pedestrian. What a relief not to have run for dear life as a bunch of maniacs drive with foot to the floor blasting their horns at you, the pedestrian, as they themselves jostle and intimidate one another for vehicle space.<br /><br />Image if CP were in Beijing or Shanghai. Think what the Chinese authorities would have done to preserve it in all its refinery. But that’s China. There, they get things done. There, they know about effective urban planning. They know how to deal with encroachments, haphazard development, unauthorised construction and traffic congestion.<br /><br />Half-finished building site<br /><br />These days, CP resembles a half-finished building site in places. The dug up roads are of course part of the plans to revamp CP, which includes the provision of heritage sensitive signages and engineering, drainage, sewerage and water supply improvements. Based on various studies that were commissioned, there are also plans to actually have a traffic management plan, provision of street furniture, adequate parking and improved walkways. Not before time.<br /><br />Oh, but don’t forget, this is India. How could we? The redevelopment work was slated to be completed in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. But the inevitable happened. We reverted to Indian Stretchable time (as if we ever went off it). Costs mounted and overruns and delays became the norm. Deficiencies in contract management and general mismanagement have been blamed. The revamp is now slated to end in December, two years after the original deadline. But didn’t we hear at the beginning of last year that it would be finished by the end of last year? Ever diminishing circles is perhaps an apt metaphor for all things relating to the circular CP.<br /><br />Hold on a minute. The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had also given March 2012 as the new deadline to complete the project then pushed it to June 2012 and now they have promised the government to complete it by December 2012. Apparently, there have been several issues related to the ‘errant’ behaviour of contractors. Some of the contractors have left the work midway, according to a senior NDMC official who recently spoke to the press.<br /><br />‘Errant’ behaviour. I think we know what that is code for. Didn’t we have a lot of ‘errant’ behaviour concerning the Commonwealth Games themselves, not least pertaining to the construction of flats, road projects, the Commonwealth Games Village, the sponsorship programme and the substandard work? And, by comparison, didn’t the Chinese leave India looking like a corrupt banana republic in its organising of a truly world class Olympics?<br /><br />The casual observer may regard the Janpath skyscrapers, the trendy fast food joints and the designer clothes shops of CP as representing the beating heart of Delhi and India’s venture into the brave new world of self congratulatory, self proclaimed emerging economic superpower. But on closer inspection, some might also regard the issues surrounding CP as a shining example of what India too often excels in — flaking mediocrity.</p>
<p>The impressive Georgian heritage buildings around Connaught Place (CP) are something Delhi is rightly proud of. CP was developed as a showpiece by Lutyen in the late 1920s and early 1930s and is at the hub of New Delhi’s business district. These days, it is overlooked by various modern, high-rise office blocks.<br /><br />In theory, CP should be what the Champs Elysees is to Paris -- the capital’s jewel in the crown. In reality, it’s not. How many times have I passed through the covered walkways and thought about what CP could be like?<br /><br />Just imagine, no rain stained buildings or flaking plaster, just gleaming white facades and colonnades. No, cracked, uneven paving, just shiny, smooth tiling. No corrosion or filth, just well maintained and clean environment. And no ugly advertising hoardings, which throughout the country serve to uglify even the grandest of buildings.<br /><br />Just imagine a CP with proper signage, instead of the confusion we now have. I have lost count of the number of times I have literally walked around in circles trying to find a particular road or establishment. And just imagine marked crossings for pedestrians.<br />What we have instead is the multi-lane racetrack of the ‘outer circle’ with blasting horns and noisy, fume-belching traffic that has total disregard for the pedestrian. Of course, this is not unique to CP. <br /><br />It’s the ‘India-way’. And what pedestrians don’t need is to be intimidated by encroaching vehicles at traffic lights where pedestrians are allowed to cross (that is if they can get up a steady gallop before the traffic roars into action again). Imagine properly marked pelican crossings and traffic police who actually managed traffic.<br /><br />I once travelled straight from India to Canada, where the biggest culture shock was road etiquette. In Canada, they must have the politest traffic in the world. Even where there are no pelican crossing on the smaller roads, traffic actually slows down and gives right of way to the pedestrian. What a relief not to have run for dear life as a bunch of maniacs drive with foot to the floor blasting their horns at you, the pedestrian, as they themselves jostle and intimidate one another for vehicle space.<br /><br />Image if CP were in Beijing or Shanghai. Think what the Chinese authorities would have done to preserve it in all its refinery. But that’s China. There, they get things done. There, they know about effective urban planning. They know how to deal with encroachments, haphazard development, unauthorised construction and traffic congestion.<br /><br />Half-finished building site<br /><br />These days, CP resembles a half-finished building site in places. The dug up roads are of course part of the plans to revamp CP, which includes the provision of heritage sensitive signages and engineering, drainage, sewerage and water supply improvements. Based on various studies that were commissioned, there are also plans to actually have a traffic management plan, provision of street furniture, adequate parking and improved walkways. Not before time.<br /><br />Oh, but don’t forget, this is India. How could we? The redevelopment work was slated to be completed in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. But the inevitable happened. We reverted to Indian Stretchable time (as if we ever went off it). Costs mounted and overruns and delays became the norm. Deficiencies in contract management and general mismanagement have been blamed. The revamp is now slated to end in December, two years after the original deadline. But didn’t we hear at the beginning of last year that it would be finished by the end of last year? Ever diminishing circles is perhaps an apt metaphor for all things relating to the circular CP.<br /><br />Hold on a minute. The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had also given March 2012 as the new deadline to complete the project then pushed it to June 2012 and now they have promised the government to complete it by December 2012. Apparently, there have been several issues related to the ‘errant’ behaviour of contractors. Some of the contractors have left the work midway, according to a senior NDMC official who recently spoke to the press.<br /><br />‘Errant’ behaviour. I think we know what that is code for. Didn’t we have a lot of ‘errant’ behaviour concerning the Commonwealth Games themselves, not least pertaining to the construction of flats, road projects, the Commonwealth Games Village, the sponsorship programme and the substandard work? And, by comparison, didn’t the Chinese leave India looking like a corrupt banana republic in its organising of a truly world class Olympics?<br /><br />The casual observer may regard the Janpath skyscrapers, the trendy fast food joints and the designer clothes shops of CP as representing the beating heart of Delhi and India’s venture into the brave new world of self congratulatory, self proclaimed emerging economic superpower. But on closer inspection, some might also regard the issues surrounding CP as a shining example of what India too often excels in — flaking mediocrity.</p>
