Delhi Chief to Redesign Roads in European Style Amid Modis Efforts to Snap Colonial Hangover

Adnan Abidi

In July 2020, Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal met with officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) to discuss the modification of seven high-capacity urban roads in the nation's capital. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had expressed a desire to revamp Delhi to look more elegant, like other capital cities around the world.

Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced a "European style" redesign and beautification of roads in the nation's capital.

Kejriwal inspected a preview of one such road along a nearly 800-metre stretch of the Chirag Delhi-Sheikh Sarai highway. Pictures shared by the Delhi chief showed a green-coloured belt on the side of the road, specially designated for cyclists. 

"The roads of Delhi are being redesigned and made beautiful. Inspected a sample design of a road today. Now 540 km long roads will be beautified", the AAP leader tweeted in Hindi. 

दिल्ली की सड़कों को रीडिज़ाइन à¤"र सुंदर बनाया जा रहा है। आज एक सड़क के Sample डिज़ाइन का निरीक्षण किया। अब 540 KM लम्बी सड़कों का सौंदर्यीकरण करेंगे। pic.twitter.com/u7qHDgyhUc

â€" Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 14, 2021

​As per his plans, seven arterial roads that are 100 feet wide and stretch across a distance of 540 kilometres will be redesigned to resemble European highways. 

The major changes likely to be included in the project are neat parking spaces for rickshaws, pedestrian lanes, cycle lanes, open spaces for people to relax, and different types of designs inscribed on the walls that stretch along the roads. 

The revamp will be based on a so-called build-operate-transfer model - making the contracted company responsible for the maintainance of the new roads for 15 years, The Times of India reported in July of last year. 

Several residents of Delhi later reacted to Kejriwal's tweet, asking him to work on bettering more roads around the capital, especially in populated residential areas. 

​Meanwhile, there has so far been no reaction from the central government on Kejriwal's latest announcement about adopting a "European model" of roadways in the capital. 

Kejriwal's announcement comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reconstructing the posh British-era region around the presidential residence and the parliament building in Delhi. In December 2020, the prime minister laid the foundation stone for a new "Indianised" parliament building in New Delhi.

In an attempt to snap the nation's colonial hangover and reflect how modern, developed, and self-reliant India is nearly 74 years after gaining independence, PM Modi's wants to showcase the country's cultural diversity. 

The $2.6-billion project focuses on renovating the entire "Central Vista" area of the Indian capital that was originally designed by British architects.

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