Walled City clean-up warning

Singh said moving these markets was the single most important action to rejuvenate and redevelop Old Delhi.

He was speaking at a workshop — conducted jointly by MCD,UNESCO,and the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) — to “identify and solve” Old Delhi’s problems. Held at the Town Hall,the workshop began after students of SPA,volunteers,city planners and UNESCO experts took a heritage walk through the Walled City areas early Wednesday morning.

The workshop aims to “humanize the old city” and generate public participation to identify problems of the area and to solve them. The experts,UNESCO urban planning experts and MCD officials unanimously agreed that the key to restoring Old Delhi’s glory lay in coming up with “feasible” solutions.

Vijay Singh said shifting the “hazardous” wholesale markets out of the Walled City would be high on the MCD’s agenda.

Ballimaran councilor Renuka Gupta said the lack of civic sense and social responsibility among residents of the Walled City has led to a degradation of the heritage area.

“The Walled City now merely appears as lanes after lanes of wholesale markets selling bulk paper,hardware and other products,” she said. “There have been talks in MCD about removing 174 encroachments from Chowk Shah Mubarak to widen the road that some times narrows down to five feet. This will be done soon to ensure passage for pedestrians and access for water tankers and fire brigade services.”

Gupta said efforts will also be made to encourage artisans and a hub of arts and cultural activity will also be developed in Old Delhi.

Experts from UNESCO said the only way to bring about any conservation in this highly populated area is to involve the community. “There has been no assessment of the type of buildings and demographics for long. There has been no feasibility study — and I think that is the first step,” said Marcellor Balbo,chairperson of UNESCO’s department for social inclusion in urban policies and practices.

Earlier,the heritage walk began from the quaint 17th Century Anglo Arabic School building that also includes the protected Ghaziuddin Khan’s tomb. It went through serpentine lanes of Ballimaran and Kucha Pati Ram along which unauthorised slum residences have cropped up over the decades,and ended at Town Hall.