The cluttered shops in Asia’s biggest air cooler market — Kamla Market will soon give way to swanky multi-storeyed commercial complexes.
located right opposite the New Delhi Railway Station in the city, the market will undergo first-ever renovation since it came into existence in 1951. The renovation plan has been mooted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the work is likely to begin in a couple of months. The civic body plans to convert the existing shops into commercial complexes with adequate parking space in the basement.
According to the Corporation, the redevelopment plan aims at giving a facelift to the market where most of the shops are in a dilapidated state. Besides, the new shops will also generate revenue for the civic body. “A number of markets at prime locations, including Kamla Market, are lying under-utilised. “The Corporation has decided to refurbish the market and redevelop them into commercial complexes. This will allow maximum exploitation of the resources, besides giving a facelift to the city,” said Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj, chairman of the Standing Committee in North Delhi Municipal Corporation. The renovation of Kamla Market has also been mentioned in the Budget for the year 2014-15.
The civic body officials have been asked to prepare a detail report on the renovation plan by March-end. “Most of these markets are in an abysmal state. We have asked the Municipal Commissioner officials of the engineering department to bring a proposal for the renovation plan. Expenditure on maintenance and repair of these markets is a sheer waste of money. The detail plan will be submitted by March 31 and by May 31 the Corporation plans to begin with the actual work,” Bhardwaj added.
According to the civic body, additional space would be created in these shopping complexes that would generate extra revenue for the Corporation. The upcoming shopping complexes will have underground parking lots to make the area congestion-free. As per the proposal being prepared by the Corporation, while the existing owners of shops would get a shop at the newly developed market complexes, the new ones would be auctioned.“The final blueprint of the kind of shopping complex, the number of shops and the capacity of creating parking spaces at the markets is being worked out. The final draft would be prepared by March end,” officials said.
The proposal will be then presented before the Standing Committee of the North Delhi Corporation and subsequently before the House for necessary approvals. To ensure that the work does not get delayed, weekly meetings are being held to assess the progress report.
Chinese ‘invasion’ did not dull Kamla Market lustre
Situated next to Ajmeri Gate in Central Delhi, Kamla Market is one of the oldest markets in the national Capital. The market came up in the year 1951 and since then it is awaiting renovation. Initially, it was Asia’s biggest market for air coolers but gradually several other commercial units and transporters made their way into the market that houses close to 300 shops. The market was constructed to provide livelihood to the refugees of Partition who came from what is now Pakistan. The market was inaugurated by the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, and named after Kamla Nehru, the wife of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Within a few years, it became Asia’s biggest bazaar for air coolers. Various body parts and components of air coolers came to the market from various manufacturing units in the Capital and were assembled here. later it also turned into a base for the city’s goods transporters who set up little cabins at the market’s periphery. Even as Chinese goods invaded the Indian markets in later decades, the market continued functioning without any hindrance. However, since several years the market has been facing apathy of the civic body as no restoration or modernisation of the shops was ever planned.
Three dozen bazaars crying for attention
While the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) has mooted a redevelopment plan for Kamla Market, over three dozen markets under its jurisdiction are also crying for immediate attention. This includes popular markets like Karol Bagh, Paharganj, Kamla Nagar Market, Azad Market, Roshanara Road, Patel Nagar, Old and New Rajendra Nagar, Rani Jhansi Market, Desbandhu Gupta Market and Ramesh Nagar, among others. These markets were under the possession of the land and Development Office and Directorate of Estates of the Government of India but were transferred to the erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2006.
A total of 79 markets were transferred to the MCD but after its trifurcation, 38 markets came under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. These markets have 2,920 shops which are on leasehold basis and 1,104 shops which are on licence fee basis. In previous Budgets, provisions were made for redeveloping these markets into commercial complexes but the plan never materialised.