The Ministry of Urban Development has written to various government departments asking them to consider the implementation of around 18 proposals by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission. This comes after DUAC officials conveyed to the Ministry — in an official meeting in February — that the proposals are ready but no government agency had approached them so far. Sources said the Ministry had granted Rs 15 crore to DUAC to prepare these proposals. DUAC officials said despite copies of Phase-I project reports being sent to Delhi Development Authority, municipal corporations, the New Delhi Municipal Council, and the Delhi Jal Board, no one has consulted them. “When a government body wishes to implement a certain project, they need to hire consultants which costs a lot of money. To avoid this, we create the proposals and offer our service to government bodies free of cost. We had a meeting and gave those present a copy of all our proposals. We told officials that they could consult us for implementing them. However, no agency has approached us,” a senior DUAC official said. “The objectives of these proposals are ecological restoration of parks, green areas and water bodies, conservation of heritage, redevelopment of redundant areas, solutions for vehicle parking, creation of more pedestrian-friendly surroundings and solid waste disposal to achieve zero waste at the local level,” a DUAC official said.
