British-era Gole Market, which predates New Delhi, set to become a museum

NDMC has also identified land in the area where a pedestrian subway and a parking lot in will come up

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday approved a years-old plan to turn the British-era Gole Market into a museum and redevelop its surrounding areas, with the project to be completed within a year at a cost of ₹21.6 crore.

The octagonal Gole Market, designed by Edwin Lutyens, was built in 1921. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

A theme for the museum is yet to be finalised, NDMC vice chairman Satish Upadhyay said, adding that it will be selected in two months.

Simultaneously, the agency will also plan and carry out the revamp of adjacent areas, including building a pedestrian subway and a parking lot in the area, besides giving a facelift to the local market, Upadhyay said.

The decisions were taken at a council meeting on Wednesday.

“The Gole Market market’s conservation and revamp plan was pending and it has now been sanctioned in the council meeting. A tender was already awarded, but a final council approval for the plan was required. A theme will now be chosen in the coming days and the concessionaire has been asked to come up with ideas of three to four themes, with the final theme to be chosen in two months,” said Upadhyay, stating that while the tender awarded for the project requires work to be completed within two years, a deadline of one year has been fixed by the council.

This is not the first time that a plan to preserve and renovate and the market has come up.

The first time it was brought up goes back as far as 2006, when plans were announced to revamp the market and turn it into a museum ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. A year later, the building was declared dangerous and NDMC began shifting local traders, however some of them moved court which led to a six-year-long legal battle. The Delhi high court eventually in 2013 ruled in favour of NDMC. In 2016, another plan to create a museum was attempted, which never materialised.

The distinctive octagonal building of Gole market was built in 1921 by Edward Lutyens. It was built as a subsidiary market to serve the needs of the residential population, primarily centred around grain, milk, vegetables and general markets.

Under the latest plan, the official said, NDMC has also identified land in the area where a pedestrian subway and a parking lot in will come up.

“The plot for building a parking lot has already been identified and we will now speak with the Centre. A discussion regarding this has already been held with the LG and we will now proceed with the plan,” Upadhyay said. The approvals for the parking lot and the revamp of the market will be taken up in the next council meeting, he added.

An NDMC official said the scope of work for the revamp of Gole market included the construction of a service block, a pedestrian subway between the service block and the museum building, and civil work which includes interior restoration, plumbing work, electrical works and HVAC installation among others.

“The salient features of the Gole market revamp include constructing of a glass dome roof for the central courtyard of the museum building, recasting of roof as an insulated one, a false ceiling, central air conditioning, ornamental fittings and fixtures, a service block, a service tunnel, a pedestrian subway and multiple lifts,” said the official, asking not to be named.

Another NDMC official said that in 2016, the body, under the Smart Cities Mission, approached conservation heritage architects, who suggested to develop the building into a museum which will showcase NDMC’s history. “A report was prepared for the same, but was never implemented,” the official said.

According to writer and heritage enthusiast Sohail Hashmi, Gole Market sprung up soon after the British shifted the Capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, with it designed to serve as a local retail market for the residential neighbourhoods in its vicinity. “The area mainly had government quarters on either side of the road, where a number of Lords stayed. Gole market served as the local market for these Britishers, with meat and fish among the items commonly sold there. The market over the years, also had signboards in Urdu, Hindi and English and some of these signs are still there. In the 1960s, a reading room also existed in the first floor,” Hashmi said, stating that while a plan to convert it into a museum was welcome, several historians and conservationists should be consulted before its theme is finalised.