Connaught Place Renovation Project

[Indian Rockstars]

there is a underground multilevel parking at CP, popularly known as palika parking facility, however its amazing how much crowed CP attracts even that huge multilevel parking is not enough .


sometimes popularity brings in whole lots of problem with it

[Abhishek901]

Hindustan Times

[Abhishek901]

From October onwards, get ready to face shrinking road space in Connaught Place. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is planning to construct eight subways in Outer Circle for which it will need road space. So it is planning to convert a six lane road into three lanes to allow work to be carried out on a particular stretch. It also has plans to construct two to three subways simultaneously, depending on the traffic situation.

Moreover, the fact that NDMC wants to complete this work in time for Commonwealth Games 2010 means that it will have to construct more than one subway at a time. At present, facade restoration work on 16 blocks is going on in Connaught Place and this has already eaten into footpaths making it a task for pedestrians to walk around the area. While the parking situation has been more or less resolved, the traders of the area are not too happy with this move claiming that their business has gone down by 20-25% since facade restoration work began.

The traders held a meeting with NDMC on Tuesday over the redevelopment plan of CP in which construction of subways was included. The traders said that they were opposed to the idea of too many things being taken up at once and would take up the matter again with NDMC on Friday.

The eight subways that will come up in the Outer Circle will include one each near Super Bazar, Minto Road, State Entry Road, Chelmsford Road, Sher Bhagat Singh Marg, and two each at Punchkuian Road and Barakhamba Road on both sides of the Metro Line. These subways will be disabled-friendly and will have escalators. The total cost of this project is Rs 35 crore.

Said Atul Bhargav, general secretary of the New Delhi Traders Association: "Business has already been affected by the ongoing facade restoration work. We have seen a dip of 20-25%. Till the work of restoring facade is not completed, no new work should be taken up. There is heavy traffic flow on Outer Ring Road at any time of the day. It is the commercial hub of Delhi and many offices are located here.''

Said an NDMC official: "Some amount of disruption is bound to happen when construction work takes place. Like the Metro, we too will divert traffic and will make the six lane road into a three lane stretch. We will take up work on more than one site simultaneously. We are already in talks with the traffic police on this matter. We are making an underpass at Shanti Path using box-pushing technology where a concrete box is lowered through an opening and is pushed ahead to make a tunnel which doesn't require too much road cutting but we need more space to use this technology which is just not available in Connaught Place.''

Senior traffic officials said that while they had no information on this plan, shrinking of road space would lead to traffic disruption.

Meanwhile, the subways were supposed to sport modern designs and CCTV cameras will also be installed in them. Besides this, it will be linked to the cooling mechanism to be installed in CP. NDMC also plans to upgrade the existing four subways in CP area.

Times of India

[purush20]

I guess this is the right thread for these.....







:They have been doing a great job ... seeing the difference b/w the 2 wings i really felt sad for the condition cp was in for the past so many years ....

[shanware]

Thanks for the pictures. The Metro has really provided a new lease of life for these places, has'nt it ?

[bhargavsura]

Purush man, you definitely have good photography skills. Those are some mind blowing pictures.

[purush20]

Thanks man .... This forum made me see India in a whole new light ....
feels really good to be contributing in some way ....

[Suncity]

purush20 > nice pics of CP. Plus other pics of the city in other threads are good as well. Thanks for posting them.

[Abhishek901]

Hindustan Times

[Cov Boy]

How did they lay the granite flooring in the first place if all the hoo-har about it not being acceptable on the heritage front.

I favour granite!

[Abhishek901]

There has been much debate over flooring of the verandahs of the heritage buildings in Connaught Place. While Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) recommended that sandstone be used to re-develop the area, the traders body has opposed this and has written to the commission saying sandstone flooring would be difficult to maintain and granite should be used instead.

New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) argue that the use of sandstone would mean continuing with the original flooring style of the heritage market and that it will be more practical to use granite as it needs less maintainence and lasts longer.

DUAC maintained it would take a decision on the matter after its officials visit CP next week.

After the traders' association wrote to the DUAC regarding the matter on July 24, the commission asked the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) chairperson for his comments on the issue, according to NDTA president Atul Bharghav.

"The sandstone flooring in B-block has already degraded though the it was changed only a few months back. Sandstone is porous and is difficult to clean. We want granite flooring as used in C-block, but it should not have any design and should be of uniform colour,'' Bharghav said.

According to NDTA, granite is a hard stone and is better suited for heavy pedestrian movement as seen in CP. "A decision will have to be taken on the matter before October 30, as NDMC will require time to procure granite in bulk for the re-development work. DUAC officials will visit CP for inspection next week and we hope they will agree to granite flooring,'' added Bhargav.

While the civic body has used granite for flooring in the already restored C-Block, DUAC has asked it to used sandstone henceforth. At present, except for C-block, the flooring of the rest of CP is Kota stone. "We wanted to use granite flooring in CP. But after DUAC recommendations we plan to use sandstone unless fresh directions are issued by the commission,'' said an NDMC official.

Times of India

[Abhishek901]

Hindustan Times

[IndiansUnite]

Edited: some pics from my trip in Dec 2009

Inner Circle of CP being redeveloped-

[IndiansUnite]

view of the redevelopment of the outer circle:


inner again-

[IndiansUnite]

That's it for now. uploading images is a bitch with the connection I'm using. There are still about 25 images from yesterday which I have to upload.

[Indian Rockstars]

Originally Posted by IndiansUnite

That's it for now. uploading images is a bitch with the connection I'm using. There are still about 25 images from yesterday which I have to upload.

nice yaar.....good shots ...keep up the good work...oye saturday ke liye kuch chodna hai ki nahi hehe

[Cov Boy]

Great pics mate & thanks for sharing.

I do like the Civic Centre & the CP renovation coming on well.

[Abhishek901]

Indian Express

[Abhishek901]

Indian Express

[IndiansUnite]

Announcement: New thread created. A thread was always needed for this project that will give the heart of Delhi - Connaught Place a new lease of life and restore it to its past glory. Better late than never.