Two years have elapsed since trifurcation of the MCD, but the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s hunt for a plot to construct its headquarters is far from getting over. The civic body is at loggerheads with the land-owning agency DDA over allotment of land for the purpose. The DDA has offered land at Kishangarh village in Vasant Kunj which has been rejected by the SDMC. The civic body, instead, has been demanding land in Green Park or Safdarjung Enclave - centrally located areas.
While the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is looking for almost six to eight acres of land for construction of the headquarters, it has so far identified four sites for the purpose. However, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has refused to give any of those lands to the SDMC. In return though, DDA has offered SDMC land in Vasant Kunj in front of Vasant Square Mall which the SDMC is unwilling to accept. SDMC officials have now proposed to the DDA to allot them land identified in front of Kamal Cinema in Safdarjung Enclave or a plot in Green Park. The other two sites identified for SDMC’s headquarters are
near Maidangarhi Village and in front of Ryan Public School in Vasant Kunj.
In a meeting with the DDA and SDMC on July 11, vice-chairman of DDA had directed the SDMC commissioner to process the case of allotment of five acres land in front of Vasant Square Mall by getting the land use changed. However, SDMC commissioner Manish Gupta confirmed that the DDA has allotted a five-acre land in Vasant Kunj which the civic body is not willing to take over for the construction of its headquarters. Gupta said, “We have asked the DDA to allot a piece of land which is centrally located in the municipal limits of South Delhi Corporation. However, the land allotted by the DDA in Vasant Kunj falls on the extreme south-west boundary of Delhi which people would find extremely difficult to visit. It will be inconvenient for citizens in far-flung areas like Badarpur to commute for work to Vasant Kunj. So we have asked for the piece of land in Green Park Extension instead of the one offered by DDA in Vasant Kunj.”