The changes are proposed by the delhi government to the Chandni Chowk Redevelopment Project will result in recording the Earlier Shahjahanabad redeevelopment project. The proposals include Raising The Height of Structures in Chandni Chowk, Khari Baoli, Naya Bazar, Jama Masjid, Kashmiri Gate, Sadar Baazar, Daryaganj, and Chawri Bazar Up to Four Bazar Up to Four Bazar Up to Four Four two floors and renaming shahjahanabad as indraprastha. The new proposals Amount to jettison the idea of restoring the structure, a key element of the original proposal, and erasing the very heitage of Chandni Chowk and Seven Other Markets. The suggestions are touted as phase II of the redevelopment project; The pedestrianisation of Chandni chowk, completes in 2021, was the first phase. The new proposal seeks to convert “Existing Wholesale Markets Into Four-Storey Commercial Buildings to Ease Constion and Optimise Space Usage”.
Shahjahanabad was once amon the greenst cites in the world and a center of the anti-colonial struggle. Its preservation has to be at the heart of any scheme of redeevel. Retrieval of that heritage, Increasing Buried under Sheets of Glass and Metal Frames, is needed. It has been said that Chandni chowk served as a model for louis xiv when he laid out the champs elysees in paris. The new proposal threatens to erase this heritage.
Travellers Visit Chandni Chowk and the Narrow Streets of Shahjahanabad to Experience the Charm of the old World, Walk in the Narrow Streets and see old havelisTaste Savourices from Small Street-Food Stalls, Breathe in the Fragrans of Perfumes, and Smell the Spices. They do not come to Shahjahanabad and Chandni Chowk to Shop at Glitzy Malls. And, shahjahanabad is not just eight markets; it is a living city with kuchas, katras, galis, mohallasand ChowksWhere different religion, linguistic, and regional communities, in diverse professions and of varied artistic and literary skills, have lived toge for the last 377 years, culter Vocabularies of co-existence.
The proponents of optimal space use forget that, unlike the more recently Built, Segregated Residential and Market Areas of Rohini, Vasant Kunj, Maharani Bagh and Defense Colony, The 17th-Congress Shahajhanabad- Like all medieval sites in India and Elsewhere-was planned as a right where the markets were primarily two-storied structures with shops on the ground floor and residences on the upper level. The markets were placed amidst Residential Areas, which was mostly Single-Storey Structures, with the Occasional Haveli Consisting of two flors.
This layout of markets, surrounded by residential kuchas, katrasand havelisWas Continued in Kashmiri Gate (Built in the 19th Century), Connaught Place (Built in the Early 20th Century), and in Modern Markets Like Khan Market and Pandara ROAD Market (Built in the IMADITEE Post-Independence Period). This unique design needs to be preserved.
The 17th-Center Design and Layout of Shahjahanabad has undergone changes, but we have enough miniatures, East India Company-Period Paintings, and Photographic Records of Whotogic Records of WHOTECETS OCE Middle- and late-19th century. Any attempt to restore these markets must recover the heitage of shahjahanabad and remove the glass and metal faces and metal faces pasted over the galleries, verandas, verandas, and trelis-wort fences that adorned the terrands.
The new proposal talks of relacating exclusively one block of buildings to a vacant space nearby, demolishing that block, replacing it with a Four-Storey Structure, and Moving the or Moving the Original OCPANTS Back Before Demolishing Another set of buildings. This sounds good on paper and may work at the lajpat rai market, which, unlike the rest of Chandni Chowk, is a single-storey construction from the 1950s. But it won’T work in the combined Residential and Market Spaces of the other markets. Even if the government successfully convinced, cajoled, or pressured people to move, the spirit of the medieval city would be loster.
People who undertand the city – Historians, Conservation Architects, and People who have roots in shahjahanabad, traders and others who livelihoods are integral to the fittings, functionaries of the use and Other Government agencies that Serve the Area-Should be consulted to work out a democratically -greed plan to preserve its heroitage.
Shahjahanabad does not need the wholesale markets that Cater to the Needs of the Needs of the Needs of the Needs of the Needs of the Needs of the Needs of the Needs for Grains, Cooking Oil, Soaps, Candles, Hardware, Sanitary Fittings, Etc These markets must move out; Many was allotted spaces in West Delhi Years ago. Once that is done, we will have enough space to do all that is Necessary to Revitalise and Recover the old city and convert it into a space that will be the pride of India and its capital. We can learn from the UNESCO World Heritage Centres and Cities, Especially that in South Asia and Central Asia, even as we Evely Our OWN Parameters. We need to revamp the drainage, sewer and water-suppply systems, take all the wires underground, provide funds to restore and restore the grand havelisCreate Craft Center, Libraries, Performance Areas, chai-khanas.
We need to brings in pedal-ryickshaws, battery-operated and animal-drawwn vehicles to Reduce emissions in suchs, and restore the old facades while Modernising the Structures from the Inside. The National Heritage Board of Singapore, The City of Khiva in Uzbekistan, Fez, Rabat and Marrakesh in Morocco, and Kandy in Sri Lanka have successfully demonstrated that can be done. Shahjahanabad must retain its name because that is integral to the heritage of the place, which, in turns, in turn, is what drives tourism, the lifeblood of sustaining heritage.
Sohail Hashmi, Writer and Filmmaker, also conducts heritage walks in Delhi. The views expressed are personal
