WALK THE CHOWK

Negotiation and cautious optimism mark the pedestrianisation of Chandni Chowk

- Sonal Shah

Omaxe Connaught Place in Greater Noida draws its name (and little else) from Delhi’s famous colonial shopping plaza. Inside, Oh! Max, billed as the country’s largest indoor theme park, has a replica of the Taj Mahal, a ‘6D’ movie theatre and a Mughal garden. Fifty kilometres away in Shahjahan’s actual capital, an Omaxe Chowk is in the works—a mall justified by its multilevel parking, a major requirement for old city traders and residents.

When one contemplates Omaxe Chowk’s made-up mélange of ‘Mughal, British and Indian’ architecture, the recent unveiling of Chandni Chowk’s first phase of pedestrianisation seems like a tiny footnote on the changing landscape. Yet, this pedestrianisation, which will stretch from the Red Fort to Fatehpuri Masjid by November, is a significant first step in the redevelopment of the old Mughal capital.

Once a 17th-century high street, Chandni Chowk had become a traffic-choked thoroughfare, and the retrofitting project recasts it as a promenade with limited and light vehicular access. Major achievements include burying cables, paving wide walkways, and adding