Large rats have been gnawing away at the 150-year-old Town Hall building in Chandni Chowk and years of neglect have left the heritage structure compromised, local municipal councillors said on Wednesday.
The building was the home of the erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi till 2009, when the municipality moved to the Civic Centre near Connaught Place.
The dilapidated condition of the heritage structure was brought up in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee on Wednesday by Congress councillors, who alleged the building was in danger.
“There are huge rats running around Town Hall and the building’s structure has been weakened. Our heritage building is in a mess,” said Congress councillor Prithvi Singh Rathor.
The MCD’s successor in North Delhi was supposed to submit a detailed project report of the building’s redevelopment plan to the Union Ministry of Tourism before June 30. The corporation had proposed an ambitious plan to revamp the building, and the Ministry of Tourism had cleared the Rs.50 crore project in February. The plan, drafted by INTACH, includes strengthening of the structure and water-proofing it.
Standing Committee chairperson Mohan Bhardwaj said: “Our consultant, INTACH, has submitted the report and a reply from the Ministry is awaited.”
However, INTACH Delhi chapter convenor Prof. A.G.K. Menon said his organisation had submitted the concept plan to the corporation, which was responsible for commissioning a detailed project report and sending it to the Ministry. “There has been no progress on the plan. It is stuck in bureaucratic scrambling as the scheme under which it was proposed has been scrapped by the new government,” said Prof. Menon.
Meanwhile, the building is in such a bad state that only two lights are in working order, said Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel. “We are destroying history. The municipal corporation of this city started in that building,” said Mr. Goel, adding that the BJP had not taken the redevelopment plan seriously.
Leader of the House Mira Aggarwal admitted that there were certain rooms in the building that were in a bad state, but the corporation had deputed a caretaker. “Since the building is closed, all rooms are not being cleaned on a daily basis. Till it is redeveloped, we can shift some of our zonal offices to Town Hall so it is at least in use and gets better attention,” said Ms. Aggarwal.