Delhi-O-Delhi: National Capital to get a facelift

New Delhi, Feb 25: A facelift for Delhi is on the anvil with a major financial package likely in Budget 2007-08 for the modernisation of its infrastructure against the backdrop of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Indications are that the Budget will have a package of Rs 550 crores relating to the preperation of the Commonwealth Games, which will include Rs 150 crore earmarked for developing the Commonwealth Village and Rs 400 crore for improvement and development of infrastructure such as modernisation and lengthening of roads.

This would be in addition to plan of the Railways to start a metro link between Connaught Place and Delhi Airport.

Sources say the bottlenecks relating to linkage of Connaugt Place and Delhi Airport by the metro have been resolved by the Group of Ministers on the subject. This includes the problem of setting up an underground tunnel in VVIP areas. The GoM has recommended that the proposed underground tunnel should have no outlet in VVIP areas, thus protecting the areas from a possible terrorist attack.

The fate of Delhi's first ever underground tunnel connecting Commonwealth Games village site and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has been in a limbo forsometimes now. Much to the delight of Delhites, there is hope that the GoM's recommendations will pave the way for an underground tunnel.

Interestingly, the recently announced Master Plan has suggested construction of underground roads and tube roads to tackle the monumental problem of traffic congestion of the capital.

For the development of the village, even last year Rs 150 crore were provided by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs and intentions were that another Rs 200 crore would be provided for this purpose.

In addition to this, Delhi is also likely to benefit from the National Highway Projects which will provide Express Road Connectivity in the Northern Region, which includes cities like Agra, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur.

The Budget 2007-08 will mark the launch of this Express Highway Project under which a token amount of Rs 50 crore is likely to be earmarked for the preperation of Detailed Project Report(DPR) and the intention of the UPA government is to develop few stretches of the Express Highway before the Games. The idea, unofficially is, to showcase India before the international community when it descends on India for witnessing the 2010 mega event.

The Standing Commitee of Parliament relating the Ministry of Human Resource Development has projected the cost of holding the Commomwealth Games at Rs 5,165 crores, much higher than the earlier estimates.

According to details made available to the Standing Committee the Indian Olympic Association(IOA) has made a demand of Rs 1,500 crore, as part of the expenditure for the development of infrastructure for the Games.

The other project under the consideration of Ministry of Road Transport realtes to bypass roads around Delhi as a means of Vehicular and other traffic decongestion.

Besides, allocation for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways are also slated for a hike of nearly 12 per cent and sources say the government is committed to encouarging the BOT (Build, Operate&Transfer) model in road development. The Ministry garners Rs 800 crores of additional resources through a cess on diesel and petrol. The current year's allocation for the Ministry is around Rs 8,500 crores.

These events would settle the controversy between the Centre and Delhi government over the funding model for the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been pressing that the infrastructure costs for the preperation of Commonwelath Games, including the faceleft of Delhi, should in a great measure be borne by the Centre on the simple grounds that Delhi's is the nations capital.

On the other hand, the Finance Ministry had been contending that infrastructure development, including the building of roads and Yamuna Bank Modernisation Plan, should be part of the State's development programme.

The issue thus for the time being has been put to rest. A modernised Delhi is what the residents of this fast-growing city look forward too. A creaking infrastructure and an ever growing influx of migratory population is adds to the vows of its people.

The last few years have witnessed the coming up of many state of the art flyovers, better roads, hospitals, educational institutions and what have you.

All said and done, on the horizon is a new look of the capital.

'Delhi O Delhi tera Jawab Nahin,' is how its admirers have been viewing this historic city. It appears to be even more appropriate for the future.

UNI