Realty bites

India’s acceptance of big,hyper-extended government is evident in the physical space it is allowed to take up. The lumbering leviathan has made itself comfortable in all of Lutyen’s Delhi and contiguous neighbourhoods,even as the rest of the city bursts at the seams trying to accommodate its own exploding population and the new demands of industry and commerce. An imperial vestige,central Delhi is a space where the powerful float free of the real city. This green space nestling in the middle of Delhi functions as the city’s lungs,its boulevards lined with splendid old neem and ashoka trees,keeping it always a few degrees cooler than the periphery. While plans to demolish this area and replace it with blocky high-rise buildings seems like wanton destruction of an elegant thing,it is certainly about time the state ceded some space to the rest of us,and made more efficient use of the space it has.

And so,the Standing Committee on Urban Development,led by JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav,has announced that no new offices of the Central or state governments should be allowed to come up in Delhi now. What’s more,offices that don’t serve any ministerial or protocol function will also be asked to look for new digs in surrounding areas,as part of the effort to de-clutter Delhi and ease pressure on infrastructure.

Delhi,the committee noted,is being put under stress by a concentration of trade,services and industries. And yet,ridiculous zoning habits result in these patterns where PSUs and government departments,commissions and authorities squat in the best parts of the city,hog acres of space,and block attempts to redevelop them. In a mega-city like Delhi,we can’t afford this wastefulness,this skew in priorities — we need vibrant mixed use patterns,we need density and diversity in neighbourhoods,and we need to make room for the real Delhi.