New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) A local traders and residents body has welcomed a government report on the alleged scam in the Chandni Chowk redevelopment plan, and demanded the dissolution of the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation and a full audit of its 10 years of operations.
According to the report, the 1.3-kilometre redeveloped stretch, inaugurated in 2021 by former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saw its project cost swell from an initial estimate of Rs 65.6 crore to Rs 145 crore.
It claimed that the initial cost for civil and electrical works — estimated at Rs 27.79 crore — escalated nearly fourfold to Rs 105.93 crore.
Praveen Shankar Kapoor, a Delhi BJP spokesperson and general secretary of the Chandni Chowk Nagrik Manch, alleged that for the past 25 years, Delhi’s governance had been run by officers on deputation.
“These officers have always viewed Chandni Chowk only as a Mughal-era city, never understanding or appreciating its commercial identity. Ignoring reality, these officers have repeatedly proposed plans to develop Chandni Chowk as merely a tourist centre, often persuading Chief Ministers to approve impractical schemes,” he alleged in a statement.
After coming to power in 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government began formulating development and beautification projects for Chandni Chowk without understanding or consulting its residents and traders, he claimed.
In 2018-19, despite opposition from local trade bodies and the Chandni Chowk Nagrik Manch, then Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba pushed the redevelopment project prepared by bureaucrats and had it implemented by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, he said.
Kapoor demanded the dissolution of the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, “which has operated arbitrarily,” and a full audit of its ten years of operations. PTI SLB VN VN
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