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From: "Architexturez." <admin-in@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:27:10 +0530
Don't Call The Cavalry
Lutyens' Delhi is under siege and no one cares. It's an unholy coup d'etat.
M.S. GILL
....
Defence ministry joint secretaries sit in filthy rooms, the files pile
up in crowded corridors and the rats are everywhere. In the evenings,
swarms of dengue-carrying mosquitoes descend. How can this proud
country, after 60 years of freedom, tolerate this? Even more dangerous
is the notion that this valuable land in the capitol complex belongs to
the defence forces. They continue to build on it, though they have no
authority to do so. This land must be allotted by the national
cabinet—and after great consideration—to national priority institutions
today, and fifty or a hundred years hence. The defence forces already
hold far too much land—in the Delhi Cantonment area, around the airport,
and elsewhere. Urban Arts Commission head Charles Correa and his team
need to advise the government on this major policy issue before it is
too late. Above all, India's vibrant civil society and the judiciary
need to mull this issue immediately.
....
cont'd....
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20060703&fname=MSGill&sid=1