“Even though the three agencies along with the union urban development ministry had first supported the proposal presented to all last March, they took an about turn later in the year,” the official told The Indian Express. “The civic authorities have asked us for one year more to study traffic patterns in the Connaught Place area before they give the go-ahead,” the official said. Owing to confusion over the conflict of interest clause in the request for qualification (RFQ) document, the project has already been delayed by over six months. The Centre had decided to re-tender the project in October 2008 and had set a January 20, 2009 deadline for fresh bids. It had, however, recently extended the deadline by a month.

The modernisation plan entailed a government spending of Rs 7,000 crore for the development of the station and another Rs 5,000 crore through private investment under the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Private investment was being invited for development of restaurants, mini-malls, budget hotels for passengers. “In fact the ministry of urban development had increased the floor area ratio (FAR) for the development of the station in support of the project last year,” the official said.

Looking at avoiding any further delays, the ministry has said that it will widen the road around the station and has also suggested alternative ways to avoid traffic mayhem. “We have suggested that road underpasses or rail overbridges can be constructed wherever required to channelise the traffic,” he added.

The government is already spending Rs 7,000 crore from the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) to spruce up Connaught Place and restore it to its colonial glory. However, it seems that no part of the money is going towards regulating the traffic there or else the controversy over the modernisation of the station would not have come up.