Delhi’s CP awaits real facelift, not just a paint job

Constructed in 1933, Connaught Place was named after Queen Victoria’s son Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, to honour him on his visit to Delhi.

A day after the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) announced that it will launch an exercise to refurbish the façade and paint the corridors and walls of Connaught Place in time for the G20 Summit, traders and stakeholders of the iconic 90-year-old market on Thursday demanded that the civic body come up with a more comprehensive conservation for the Capital’s financial hub.

A view from the top of Palika underground car park in Connaught Place in thee year 1985. (HT Archive)

Constructed in 1933, Connaught Place was named after Queen Victoria’s son Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, to honour him on his visit to Delhi. The market last underwent a thorough refurbishment in 2007 for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, though the works missed a series of deadlines and continued till 2013.

Ten years on, spittle trails and paan stains pepper the market’s fading white walls and pillars. On Wednesday, the council signed an agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for the conservation and restoration of the Connaught Place buildings at a cost of ₹3.19 crore, with a deadline of June 30. SBI will fund the exercise, which will be supervised by NDMC, while the logistical and administrative support of the work will be undertaken by INTACH.

View of Connaught Place after the renovation in 2014. (HT Archive)

NDMC vice-chairperson Satish Upadhyay said, “This step has been taken on the long-standing demand of market traders association… for restoration of façade. We will take suggestions from the stakeholders on expansion of the project.”

However, traders and stakeholders point beyond the surface — to the cracks appearing in Connaught Place’s pillars, its leaking roofs, its damaged window frames, and the desperate need for a complete overhaul of its drainage system.

Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA), said a simple whitewash will not fix the issues faced by the market. “Several components of the refurbishing exercise initiated before the CWG remain incomplete, while others have deteriorated to their previous state. CP needs a comprehensive structural upgrade as you can easily see cracks appearing in the pillars and the Burma teak windows installed in 2010 are now damaged. The underground duct for utilities gets flooded every monsoon season. The scope of the project needs to be expanded,” he said.

Bhargava said the 2007 project involved the shifting of utilities to underground ducts in the Middle Circle but the gas lines are yet to be moved. “The tunnel gets flooded every year due to run-off of extra water from the Panchkuian Road side. The gradients of the new and old sewer lines also don’t match. Similarly, we had a project for setting up a public announcement system, all the wires were laid but it was never made operational. The illumination of uniform signboard did not have proper wiring, which led to the problem of loose hanging wires,” he said.

Renovation work underway at Connaught Place in 2010. (HT Archvie)

Upadhyay said the transfer of gas lines to the utility duct will begin after the G20 events conclude in September. “We will further expand the project to include other structural aspects after the summit,” he said.

At the heart of the issue is the tussle between the NDMC and traders over the upkeep of the market. While civic officials maintain that NDMC cannot be held liable for maintaining private properties, traders said the process to seek permission to carry out repairs is tedious — since these buildings are notified as Grade 2 heritage structures, the approval of the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) is mandatory for maintenance and internal repairs, including painting the premises and relaying floor or wall tiles.

NDTA secretary Vikram Badhwar said the upcoming G20 Summit should be an occasion to provide a new lease of life to the 90-year-old market. “A simple touch-up will not work. We have damaged structures in various blocks, but traders don’t get permission to undertake repair work in their own shops. It takes 8-9 months and access to move the files through HCC for simple repair,” Badhwar said.

He added that the pillars, façade and windows in H Block are badly damaged, while repair work is needed in the M, N, E and F blocks. “In many cases, we are asked to submit original building plans. It is impossible to secure these documents almost a century later. The upgrade needs to continue beyond G20 events,” he said.

HCC officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Stains of pan over the walls of Connaught Place on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photo)

An NDMC official, on condition of anonymity, said no-objection certificates for repair work by the council gets stuck due to the multiple ownerships of sections of the properties, and legal disputes between the owners. “These are private properties and ultimately we can’t be held responsible for their internal repair and maintenance. In many cases, there are dispute regarding ownership of the building or between the landlord and tenants, and agencies don’t want to be litigant in these matters,” the official said.

Anita Singh, convener of the INTACH Delhi chapter, said the market has seen deterioration since the last conservation exercise.

“The paint needs to be redone. There are things that need to be repaired. While we will not be doing major repairs since the current exercise is being undertaken in view of G20 and time is limited, our focus will be on restoring CP to what it used to be. Restoration and conservation work will entail painting and the use of a similar colour pallette that CP originally had. We will restore and conserve without tampering with anything,” said Singh.

Historian Swapna Liddle, the author of ‘Connaught Place and the Making of New Delhi', said it was crucial to centre the history and background of a location while addressing present-day conservation challenges.

“Connaught Place was designed as a unified complex. The two circles had a unified design created by one architect but individual buildings within the CP complex were privately owned. We need to take cognisance of the unified designs of the buildings when we talk about conservation. The upkeep of the buildings has to progress by taking a unified complex into the mind and for that to happen, even the individual owners of the buildings need to take some onus,” said Liddle.

“Owners need to ensure that repairs are undertaken in line with building bylaws. The original aesthetic of the place can be maintained if owners also play their part.,” said Liddle.