NDMC to redevelop Gole Market region with parking, art galleries

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will be undertaking a comprehensive upgradation of the area around Gole Market, which will include facilities such as parking, setting up of on artist gallery and a food court, officials said, adding that a proposal to this effect was approved by the local body on Wednesday.

The features will be a part of the redevelopment of Gole Market. As part of the 21 crore project, the civic body plans to develop a museum in the 102-year-old heritage structure. The council has also decided to hire an adviser for the museum, officials said.

“The museum adviser will help in deciding the theme, audio visual components and collections to be displayed in the museum. The new approval will help us to undertake infrastructure upgradation of neighbouring neglected area. The idea of roping in the services of National Gallery of Modern Art was also floated in the meeting,” an official familiar with the development said.

The council has also approached the central government’s land and development office for the allocation of vacant plots in the area for development of a parking space, the official added.

The Gole Market redevelopment plan was approved on June 28 earlier this year, and now the council has decided to incorporate additional features in the form of a subway, a service block, and interior restoration of surrounding area, among other features, said Satish Upadhyay, vice-chairman of NDMC.

“”The heritage structure will become a centre of attraction in the form of a museum and the ancillary infrastructure in the area will also be upgraded. The theme of the museum has not been decided yet,” Upadhyay said.

The Gole Market has an open central courtyard which will be covered by a glass dome structure. The complex will have central air conditioning and the first floor will be recasted entirely. NDMC member Kuljeet Chahal said that the additional plan will incorporate showcasing area that will be provided to artists to feature their art galleries.

According to officials, the project is expected to be completed in next one year.

It will be the first time that the area in and around the Gole Market, one of Delhi’s oldest colonial markets in the city, will be taken up. Built in 1921 by Edwin Lutyens, who planned New Delhi nearly a century ago, as a subsidiary market to the prime business centre of Connaught Place, the market was designed to serve the needs of the residential population, primarily centered around grain, milk, vegetable and general market.

However, this is not for the first time that renovation plans for Gole Market are being planned. Over the last two decades, NDMC has attempted at least thrice to initiate the rejuvenation of Gole Market but the overall process has been mired with delays and legal disputes over the eviction of traders.

An NDMC official said that the project was pending since 2006 due to various litigations. That year, several shopkeepers had to be shifted after the redevelopment plan was conceived. It led to a long drawn legal battle between NDMC and local traders until the Supreme Court passed an order in NDMC’s favour.

In February 2013, 28 of the market’s shopkeepers petitioned against NDMC’s alleged move to take over their shops in the Delhi high court. On June 20, 2013, the court ruled in favour of NDMC but cautioned it against the non-commercial use of the property, as it was declared unsafe in 2007.