Arts Commission approves HC parking, finally

The Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) has finally given a go-ahead to an under-construction multi-level underground parking being built opposite the Delhi high court.

The Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) has finally given a go-ahead to an under-construction multi-level underground parking being built opposite the Delhi high court.

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This after sending back the proposal several times in 2010.

Earlier, the court had asked the DUAC to find a solution "as if the plans have to be sanctioned on a barren virgin land" and directed a joint meeting of all the agencies concerned for the project.

The project-that involves constructing the parking lot and an underpass connecting it with the court across the road-had faced hurdles since work began in October 2009.

The DUAC had rejected the proposal time and again owing to the presence of an unknown tomb, a Mughal era heritage structure. Moreover, the project proponent had failed to follow the procedure.

Earlier, the NDMC had slapped a stop-work notice on the construction, despite which work went ahead in full steam.

Said Anant Athle, NDMC's chief architect, "We had asked them to stop work as the proposal had not been cleared by the DUAC."

KT Ravindran, DUAC chairperson, clarified, "There is a particular pro-forma which the local body is supposed to fill. For the meeting held in March, the NDMC submitted a duly signed pro-forma, which signified that it had checked issues related to bye-laws."

"The (status of the) heritage structure was one of the issues. The ASI has been asked to restore the tomb. Then, there were design issues. The project proponents have now complied with all our suggestions. Hence the clearance," Ravindran added.

The project proponents have also been able to garner approvals from every single authority involved, including the Central Vista Committee, Forest department, traffic police and DDA.