Now screening: Chanakya razed

According to a senior NDMC official,DLF recently sent its project plans for approval to various agencies,including the Delhi Urban Art Commission. “They (DLF) are waiting for clearance; once that comes through,construction will begin,” the official says.

Demolition work began in September last year,and the place was cleared by February,say people working in adjacent buildings.

The hall gone,the famous ‘momo market’ in the complex is also dying a slow death,says Sanjay Singh,who runs “Bamboo Chopstix”. Another momo stall owner says footfall has halved over the last two years. Singh says,“Earlier,around 5,000 people from Delhi and NCR came here during weekends. But only a few,mostly residents nearby,come now.”

Chanakya cinema,inside the Yashwant Place Complex,was opened in 1970 and its lease expired in 2002; NDMC refused to renew it. While the civic body got an annual licence fee of Rs 15.5 lakh,it claimed the lessee was making profits of Rs 1.5 crore per annum on the property worth over Rs 100 crore,officials said.

A legal dispute arose,in which the Supreme Court ruled in favour of NDMC.