The Hindu : New Delhi News : Accused of stalling projects, DUAC members quit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Accused of stalling projects, DUAC members quit

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI: Pained at being targeted through “adverse press reports” circulated by the Union Urban Development Ministry and the Delhi Government, all the four members of Delhi Urban Arts Commission have resigned from the advisory body. In a letter to Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, they said that they had been wrongly accused of stalling projects related to the Commonwealth Games due to be held in Delhi in 2010.

Talking to The Hindu over phone from Mumbai, DUAC chairperson Charles Correa said the members were targeted because they acted professionally and provided the correct overview on various projects as their work mandated. “But the officials instead wanted us to be a signing authority,” he lamented.

The renowned town planner and architect said he was working for DUAC as a “public duty” and therefore it hurt him when officials in Delhi went to the extent of saying that he wanted a second term. “We had joined DUAC as the Prime Minister wanted an honest overview on the development projects.”

Stating that DUAC never had a professional architect or town planner as chairman earlier, Mr. Correa said the team that was constituted along with him was “truly wonderful with first class people like landscape architect Mohammad Shaheer, architect Jasbir Sawhney and history scholar Narayani Gupta joining in as the members”.

But Mr. Correa said the bureaucracy still wanted yes-men for the job and did not like it when the DUAC members gave their opinions on various projects. “They just want approvals for the projects to be a phone call away as before.”

“The only Commonwealth Games related project that came to us was the tunnel road project. As per our role, we advised the Prime Minister’s Office against it. It was for them to adhere to it or ignore it, but they found merit in it.”

Mr. Correa clarified that there was no other Commonwealth Games related project pending with DUAC. The letter nevertheless mentions that the members had also been wrongly accused of coming in the way of the East-West corridor project and two others. As for the East-West corridor, the Chairperson said while one part of it had been approved by DUAC, it had reservations on a section where the elevated road would have been five-storey high. And this did not go down well with the bureaucracy.

Reminding how DUAC had stooped to a level where it had even approved the police memorial project, that had to be later scrapped, Mr. Correa said a professional and holistic approach was needed to development in Delhi. “We had constituted a task force and organised an exhibition on “Imagining Delhi” for coming out with new ideas. Also, DUAC had set up a model urban village at Kirki and had drawn up plans for all-round development of the heritage Shahjahanabad area.”

He said a special purpose vehicle was also created for Shahjahanabad and a plan was made for having different rules in different areas of New Delhi Municipal Council.

Meanwhile, the Union Urban Development Ministry, that had earlier this month issued a circular for nomination of a new DUAC chairperson and panel members, remained officially silent on the matter.

A senior official said the term of the DUAC members was coming to an end in April 2008. He added that the Ministry had nothing to do with the controversy.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi