4 Years On, Chandni Chowk Requires Another Makeover

With garbage strewn all around, rickshaws crowding pavements and uninviting paan-stained street furniture, the main Chandni Chowk Avenue Road between the Red Fort and Fatehpuri mosque is in a shambles, despite it being revamped for ₹99 crore as a model of urban rejuvenation as recently as September 2021.

- Aaditya Khatwani

NEW DELHI:

The stretch, a non-motorised and pedestrian-friendly space on paper, was serving as an illegal parking zone, HT found during a spot check on Tuesday.

Traders and residents' groups urgently sought the intervention of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Sixty-eight-year-old Sanjay Bhargava, the president of the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, said: "The situation is alarming; it has become a pathetic state of affairs. It is difficult for shopkeepers and visitors to operate on a day-to-day basis. The area faces problems of sanitation, unauthorised construction, encroachment, and a lack of space to walk due to excessive traffic. People have to watch out for mobile snatching and unsocial elements; there are incidents of harassment as well. Chandni Chowk is deteriorating day by day."

On Tuesday, Delhi BJP spokesperson and general secretary of Chandni Chowk Nagrik Manch, Praveen Shankar Kapoor, wrote to the Delhi mayor, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner and chief minister, demanding immediate intervention. In his communique, he said that the beautification project has "completely failed" due to "poor planning" and "lack of a long-term maintenance strategy."