Rs 6.5-crore public art to adorn Civic Centre

The MCD has taken upon itself the task of giving Delhi more public art. It will do so by installing more such art works at its headquarters, the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre. Hamari Jamatia reports.

The MCD has taken upon itself the task of giving Delhi more public art. It will do so by installing more such art works at its headquarters, the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre.

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The 28-storey building will soon have sculptures and paintings by eminent sculpturists, painters or mural artists of the country. The organisation is considering artists like Satish Gujral, SH Raza, Anjolie Ela Menon, KS Radhakrishnan, Subodh Gupta and Anju Singh.

Before the CWG, the New Delhi Municipal Council too (NDMC) had announced that public art will adorn several junctions of the city.

"After the Shunglu Committee report made allegations of corruption against the NDMC, the agency is trying not to take up any big project anymore. But there are definite plans to take up art installation again soon," said a senior official of NDMC.

But the MCD has already set aside a portion of its fund to beautify the civic centre and has identified eight sites for the installations, a senior MCD official said.

The MCD has cited a government provision, which says that 1 per cent of a building's making charges should be spent towards its beatification. Though most government buildings do not follow this guideline, the MCD expects to spend Rs 6.5 crore on the project, 1 per cent of what was spent on building the Civic Centre.

"The project is still in a nascent stage and the next few months will be spent on deciding the theme and selecting the artists," said the official.