Following instructions from the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has started replacing the newly-laid granite pavements in Khan Market with Kota stone. Though the granite was supposed to give the market a smarter look and last longer,Newsline had reported in April that several shoppers were slipping on the new,smoother,pavement. But as a result of the confusion over the pavement,work on replacing the electrical and sewerage systems in the market will not be completed in time for the Commonwealth Games. NDMC will now only complete the Phase I of the renovation and leave the second phase for after the Games. The NDMC chairperson visited the market last week and said the work will be done consistently from now on. He set the date of completion of the first phase to July 31, said Sanjiv Mehra,president of the Khan Market Traders Association. At present,work is being simultaneously done on the pavements,the parking and the roads in and outside the popular market. As much as 40 per cent of work on the pavements has been completed,while just 30 per cent of the overall work has been done. Khan Market is being renovated in two phases. The first phase includes laying of the pavements,lowering the level of roads inside the market and lowering of roads outside the market. The parking lots are also being repaired and levelled. The second phase of work,which has now been postponed,includes putting new electrical ducts and changing the sewage lines in the area. But this work has been stopped as it involves lot of digging and the traders and the NDMC officials thought that it is best to wait till the monsoon gets over. There would have been dirt and puddles everywhere due to the digging. So the second phase will now be taken up only after the Games are over, said Mehra.
