The year Delhi will rise

As 2010 emerges from the ashes of 2009, perils the Capital underwent last year will bear sweet fruit. Here is how.

As 2010 emerges from the ashes of 2009, perils the Capital underwent last year will bear sweet fruit. Here is how.

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There are 11,000 crore reasons to be glad the Commonwealth Games happened to Delhi, whether you're a sports fan or not. As many rupees are being spent to upgrade the city's infrastructure before October 3 — the day the Games begin — and 2010 is the year you get to see the concrete face of the cash. If 2009 was spent taking long, painful detours around metro and flyover constructions sites, 2010 — the Chinese year of the tiger — is the year Shera will ensure you cruise on the finished fruits of your patience.

So as the Greeks would say, Let the Games begin.

Travel better

2009's transport-fare hikes may have outlived the year, but you could be spending less to get to office in 2010. Reason? Public transport will become more accessible, giving you the option to leave the car home and hop into the nearest Metro, bidding large petrol bills goodbye.

By June, the Metro will go south, with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) opening the stretch between Gurgaon and Central secretariat. The Anand Vihar line, the Inderlok-Mundka section and the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line too will get on track, enabling passengers from Delhi's margins and beyond to get onboard.

That is not all.

In 2010, Delhi will have what Beijing and London don't: a complete fleet of air-conditioned buses in its public transport system. If Metro's tracks will span 190 kms across Delhi and the NCR, DTC's buses will also number 6, 500.

More flights

The Delhi airport will fly out.

By mid-2010, all international and most domestic flights at Indira Gandhi International Airport will shift from the present terminals to upcoming integrated Terminal 3 (T3). Spread over 5 million sq ft, the number of passengers T3 will accommodate will be 60 million every year. 2009's capacity? 26 million. The number of flights too be will be up to 750 from last year's
680.

Now if only airline tickets could get cheaper…

More public toilets
Prefer to burst your bladder or head to the nearest wall then visit a stinking public toilet? 2010 may just be the year you reform. With the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) upgrading its existing urinals, toilets will get less aromatic. The MCD will also install 1,000 waterless — and odor-free — urinals. What's more, the civic body wants to ensure you don't miss your coffee while you tinkle. Major toilet complexes in areas like South Extension and Lajpat Nagar will be redeveloped into swanky toilet-cum-coffee complexes. So, when you want to catch a break from hectic shopping, chuck the cafe and head to the loo.

Cleaner roads

Wishes do come true.

In 2010, Delhi will get streetscaped, litter-free alleys, at least in areas leading to the Commonwealth Games venues. Some streets will actually get smart. For instance, if you're lost in transit on a Capital road, a public information kiosk armed with phone and maps will not be too far away. The ugly overhead mesh of cable wires that characterize many a city road will go underground, as underground ducting is carried out on all Games stretches in Delhi.

Pedestians will not have to make mad dashes across heavy traffic. In 2009, of the 1,918 people who died in road accidents, 55 per cent were pedestrians. With more subways coming up, hopefully the numbers will lessen in 2010. Eight new subways will come up in the outer circle of Connaught Place.

Parking options

It's never been a mere walk in the park. But if you live in the New Delhi area at least, finding a parking spot for your car will be simpler than before. Work on three automated parking lots has started in Sarojini Nagar, Baba Kharak Singh Marg and K G Marg. And with the lot in Kasturba Gandhi Marg also getting approval, the city is your ballpark.

Shop and awe
Shopping and heritage are two of Delhi's definitive pleasures. Keeping in mind the huge influx of tourists set to visit the city during Games 2010, the government will be combining the two. In queue to be refreshed are:

Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid. The haunts of foodies and firangs will finally get a grand makeover. Narrow footpaths will be widened in congested areas and toilet blocks set up.

Connaught Place: You may be cursing the municipal authorities as you battle diverted roads and closed sections in under-renovation CP. But after May 2010, the made-over marketplace will have you catch your breath. With the facade here being restored, better lighting and CCTVs in subways, CP will be like never before.

Maintained monuments

If you're talking in terms of archaeology, Delhi, with its layers of living history, is easily the world's richest Capital. And this year, the government plans to spend crores to salvage its ignored treasure. Monuments like the Red Fort will undergo chemical cleaning to be free of moss and lichen blackening their surfaces. Surrounding areas will be landscaped so that once done gazing at the sun-warmed arches, visitors could plop down on the greens nearby and eat a sandwich. But only if they promise to dispose the wrapper in the nearby bin. Which brings us to the most important hope for 2010.

Politer people

A city is made by its infrastructure, and unmade by its people. This has for long been the case with Delhi, India's most well-equipped city in terms of public facilities.

A restored monument is cancelled out by one defacing, hand; a clean street by a stream of spat-out paan juice. The biggest hope 2010 offers is that this year the defacing hand will be slapped back. With the government set to pass the new anti-littering laws, the fine for littering — which includes dumping construction material on the road — will rise from Rs 50 to Rs 200 to 500.

This is the year MCD has ex-army officers crack down on autorickshaw drivers, and you finally put arbitrary fares behind you. With etiquette campaigns underway, this is the year trained auto and bus drivers may actually surprise you with a “How are you?” This is the year awareness campaigns like Dilli ki beti may stop people from urinating on neighbourhood walls and covering public spaces with plastic waste.

T.S. Eliot once wrote: “Next year's words await another voice.”

Whatever else 2010 brings our way, finding that civilising voice is up to us.

(Anchored by Gayatri Chandola, with inputs from Sidhartha Roy, Neelam Pandey, Nivedita Khandekar, Atul Mathur, Jaya Shroff, Joyeeta Ghosh and Vijiata Singh)