Contest to design new police memorial

More than two years after the previous National Police Memorial was pulled down for being an eyesore, the authorities have announced a national-level competition for architects to design a new one.

More than two years after the previous National Police Memorial was pulled down for being an eyesore, the authorities have announced a national-level competition for architects to design a new one.

HT Image

The new memorial would be built at the same site as the earlier steel structure — said to have blocked the view of the Rashtrapati Bhavan from Shanti Path — which was removed following a High Court directive.

The site for the structure, which would be built in memory of police personnel who died in the line of duty, is a 6.30-acre plot at the northern end of the Chanakyapuri Vista.

Sources said the home ministry announced the competition on Thursday.

As the earlier memorial was dismantled because it violated guidelines for Lutyen’s Delhi, Thursday’s announcement, this time, clearly mentions that the height of the proposed structure should not exceed nine metre. The earlier memorial was a 150-foot structure of a globe hung between four steel pillars, built at a cost of Rs 8 crore.

The home ministry’s announcement also mentions involvement of landscape architects in the process.

Said Savita Punde, former president of the Indian Society of Landscape Architects: “Such competitions bring out a lot of churning and our fraternity and public in general feels involved.”