Safety forgotten in Connaught Place renovation hurry

If shopping in Connaught Place, better watch your step, especially at night. Redevelopment of the commercial hub has picked up pace after HT’s Save CP campaign, but the contractors have ignored pedestrians’ safety.

Portions of the walls have chipped off and cracks are visible on some of the facades in Block-E, Connaught Place. The project to take the British era market back to ...

A paan-stained corridor in Block-F, Connaught Place. The project to take the British era market back to its glory days has missed every deadline. HT Photo/Raj K Raj 

Connaught Place: Before and after facing civic apathy and maintenance. The project to take the British era market back to its glory days has missed every deadline. HT/Raj K Raj

This combination picture shows Radial Road Number 7, Outer Circle of Connaught Place during the 2010 Commonwealth Games (above) and ongoing construction in the Outer Circle now. HT/Sunil Saxena, Raj ...

Cracks are visible on some of the facades in Block-F, Connaught Place. Planners expect to cross the finish line of restoration work in December but stakeholders are sceptical. HT Photo/Raj ...

A dirty white pillar is seen in Block-B, Connaught Place. Planners expect to cross the finish line of restoration work in December but stakeholders are sceptical. HT Photo/Raj K Raj  ...

Poportions of the walls have chipped off at many places in Block-A, Connaught Place. The project to take the British era market back to its glory days has missed every ...

A dug-up road is seen in Block-A, Connaught Place. For the fourth year in a row, Connaught Place will miss the Diwali shopping blitz because of haywire construction, dug-up roads, ...

A dug-up road is seen in Block-A, Connaught Place. For the fourth year in a row, Connaught Place will miss the Diwali shopping blitz because of haywire construction, dug-up roads, ...

A dirty white pillar is seen in Block-A, Connaught Place. Planners expect to cross the finish line of restoration work in December but stakeholders are sceptical. HT Photo/Raj K Raj

Cracks are visible on a pillar in Block-A, Connaught Place. The project to take the British era market back to its glory days has missed every deadline. HT Photo/Raj K ...

Poportions of the walls have chipped off at many places in Block-A, Connaught Place. The project to take the British era market back to its glory days has missed every ...

Iron rods jut out of roads, manhole covers are missing and pavements remain dug up without any signboards warning of the danger ahead. Shoppers and traders have complained about how unsafe parts of the market have become.

“We requested the contractor to put barricades in the areas under construction,” said Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders’ Association.

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Engineer India Limited, the project contractor, formed a team two weeks ago but that hasn’t helped.

The worst affected stretches are the Regal building, where pavements have been dug up and debris left in the open, and Barakhamba Road, where the NDMC took up the pavement to build a subway.