Buildings will be illuminated with lights of different colours; tourists will be given guided tours of monuments till 10 pm The UT Administration might have failed to maintain the Capitol Complex the most renowned structure made by Le Corbusier but it might soon become the centre of night tourism. The Administration has already prepared a plan for the project,according to which buildings and monuments at the Capitol Complex will be illuminated with lights of different colours and tourists will be able to visit architectural edifices of the city at night. The illumination will be done through energy-efficient and cost-effective methods. A guided tour of the Complex in the hop-on hop-off bus would also be conducted for tourists up to 10 pm. Plans are also afoot to light up and landscape entry points to the city on the peripheral routes at Mullanpur,Mohali and Panchkula. Former principal of Chandigarh College of Architecture,Rajneesh Wattas,said architectural lighting as a concept is present in many countries of the world. Care should be taken that the illumination is not garish. Soft colours should be used. Guided tours of the area should be organised. Lighting enhances the form of buildings. Instead of going ahead with the project at one go,the Administration should install lights on some buildings on experimental basis. The effect should be gauged by experts in the field and then all buildings should be illuminated, he said. The earlier experiments to promote night life in the city have not been very successful. Frequent brawls and lawlessness has been witnessed at the Night Food Street and fights are also commonly reported from discotheques and bars. There are three main buildings in the Capitol Complex the Assembly,Secretariat and High Court. Apart from them,some monuments like the Open Hand,Martyrs Memorial,Tower of Shadows and Geometric Hill also attract tourists. The Complex is in an urgent need of sprucing up. With broken lights,weed,graffiti on walls and dirty pools of water,the area smacks of lack of maintenance. Activist Hemant Goswami said the Administration first needs to maintain the tourist spots in the city before coming up with such concepts. The project would be a waste of public funds. Most discotheques opened in the city failed. Emphasis should be on improving the condition of all tourist spots. There are so many restrictions on entry to the Capitol Complex during the day. The entry should be made hassle-free. Meanwhile,CITCO General Manager A K Malhotra said the aim was to make the city more than a transit destination. The Ministry of Tourism has given its approval for the project and an amount of Rs 4 crore has also been sanctioned. This project would enhance the tourist potential of the city, he said.
