Shop till you drop

The towering grey, cement blocks of Nehru Place is not for a lifestyle boutique, advises Radhe, and we go behind the sprawling mess, which opens to a whole new vista8212;more signature glass and chrome buildings but brand new. 8216;8216;Kamal Mandir,8217;8217; as Radhe exults. 8216;8216;All of them come for around Rs 275, negotiable by Rs 5-10, per sq ft plus Rs 15 for maintenance, like lifts, security, generator back-up, toilets, water etc. So, for a shop floor of 1,000 sq ft, it will come to Rs 2.75 lakh a month, plus Rs 1,500 for maintenance. Please make up your mind quickly, there is only one shop each available in all three buildings,8217;8217; he says.

What about Guptaji8217;s glass towers? 8216;8216;That is half price, Madam, but now you take it at your own risk,8217;8217; he says stiffly.

DID you know the last commercial land released by MCD was HUDCO8217;s Ansal Plaza 10 years ago?8217;8217; asks architect Sudhir Vohra. 8216;8216;And with this crisis for commercial space, where was the need to sell this prime property to government hostels? With the retail boom, the government must realise there8217;s extreme mismatch between supply and demand for space. There must be transparency and better land management if you want to build a first class city.8217;8217;

Radhe8217;s Guptaji may be an MCD phantom, but the city8217;s haute designers are certainly not hallucinating when they see MCD officials everywhere. The demolition of MG 1 and 2, Delhi8217;s fashion retail paradise, was so swift and lethal, it sent its designer occupants into a traumatic black hole.

Suneet Verma, one of the early pioneers of Indian haute fashion, who lost both his retail stores, admits, 8216;8216;The MCD8217;s flip-flop on Lal Dora rural land is criminal. I have a letter dated August 2004, from the MCD Commissioner, which says it is legal to build here. It was a haven for buyers and clients as it was a one-stop shop. We were all assured it was legal.8217;8217;

While the MCD8217;s big sharks may have used the laws to allow rampant development of commercial buildings in rural land by replacing construction of warehouses and cold storages only with designer boutiques and restaurants, Radhe says the tenant is equally culpable when signing the lease contract.

SO, all the designer wails about legitimate stamp duty papers, water and power connections, fall flat when Radhe says, 8216;8216;You sign a deal with the builder, not the MCD. And if you want to go for illegal structure, the liability is yours. The agreement will say guesthouse in residential area, or your company8217;s name if it is in a shopping complex. Run it as long as you can.8217;8217;

As we drive past the 8216;8216;illegal8217;8217; buildings along Greater Kailash II, Radhe says there are several 8216;legit8217; shops available in the community market area. 8216;8216;Only ground floor, for Rs 80 per ft, all first floors are illegal.8217;8217;

We hit yet another suburban glass and chrome sanctuary on the Ring Road along the expensive Defence Colony, opposite Lajpat Nagar no shops available in market areas in both colonies, all occupied, rest illegal. Radhe chides me for looking longingly at the swanky buildings, 8216;8216;Not legal,8217;8217; he ticks me off.

Haute couturier Tarun Tahiliani, who first brought retail to fashion designers with his flagship chain, Ensemble, saw his store in a building here slammed shut, five months ago. Tahiliani occupied a floor with two lifestyle boutique neighbours below, but was served a notice after his builder added an extra illegal floor above. Says Tahiliani, 8216;8216;Today, we have been shut but the occupant on the illegal floor continues to be open as it does not exist on the MCD records!8217;8217;

It is a furious Sanjay Kaul of People8217;s Action Advocacy Group, which battles for civic rights, who says the MCD should be dismantled immediately. 8216;8216;Why are there no encroachments in NDMC mainly Lutyens and adjoining areas zones? Because the MCD is designed so deviously to have six authorities, including an elected councilor for every zone. The corruption begins with the council elections; whereas the NDMC has a single authority. It should be replicated all over Delhi.8217;8217;

WHAT about Hauz Khas Village, the city8217;s first designer hole, discovered and developed by Bina Ramani? 8216;8216;Sorry,8217;8217; says Radhe, 8216;8216;it is 50-50 legal.8217;8217;

Says Ramani today, 8216;8216;I wanted to create a boho-ethno bohemian and ethnic village for design and retail, but the village landlords got greedy and began building uncontrollably. Today, the village is overcrowded and mostly unauthorised.8217;8217;

Radhe reels off names of markets in the rest of the city8212;Khan Market, Connaught Place, Basant Lok, Janpath8212;all at a price range between Rs 2-3 lakh per month, but there are barely any places available. 8216;8216;You must have a turnover of a couple of crores,8217;8217; he points out, 8216;8216;or, maybe, you can go to the malls?8217;8217; he asks.

Post Script: Hectic negotiations are on with Crescent Mall, in south Delhi8217;s Lado Sarai, owned and promoted by social player and businessman, Yanchi Vadhera, who is ready to rent his showrooms. Vadhera has hit the jackpot with designers desperately looking for space, but he is keenly choosing his tenants. A dozen other malls are ready to open by the end of the year, stretching from Saket to Vasant Kunj. So, is it going to be the call of the mall for the newly minted? Perhaps.